„They treat us like children.” Ubisoft employees declare open war on management
French labor unions are fed up with Ubisoft's management, which demands accountability from employees while failing to hold itself accountable for its „disastrous” decisions.
"Like children under the supervision" of irresponsible management is how Ubisoft employees describe their experiences with the French game publisher ahead of the upcoming strike.
Ubisoft's current situation is becoming a textbook example of a giant losing its position. The company, known for having a bunch of the most famous brands and iconic games in its lineup, hasn't really hit any big successes in recent years. It's enough to say that Assassin’s Creed: Shadows was supposed to be the only chance to show that Ubisoft is still a serious player in the market.
The title didn't perform badly, but time has shown it clearly wasn't the success the French needed. Ubisoft's recent moves show it all: big layoffs, plans for more job cuts, canceling six projects, and major shake-ups in the company's structure.
Employees "like children" under the watch of Ubisoft's irresponsible management
Basically, the idea behind the restructuring at Ubisoft is to help them make games and manage projects more efficiently. However, as we've already written, employees are unsure if these changes are genuinely aimed at improving the company's situation in the long term. Especially when they are accompanied not only by significant layoffs but also by encouragement to "voluntarily" leave the job and even announcements of further "job reductions."
Hence, the announcement of the strike we wrote about yesterday. However, protests had already started thanks to members of Solidaires Informatique, who encouraged a one-day strike on January 22. This is not the first such initiative by this union: the group has encouraged action in previous years, including after a statement by CEO Yves Guillemot about "cautious" spending.
Now, SI has joined forces with four other similar employee associations: CFE-CGC, Confédération Générale du Travail, Printemps écologique, and Le Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo. Five unions are calling for a mass walkout of Ubisoft employees to protest against changes in the company, including a full return to the office (i.e., an almost complete abandonment of remote work) and the irresponsibility of the company’s management.
We are promised autonomy for Creative Houses, but what about autonomy for employees? Five days of mandatory in-office work: We are treated like children who need to be supervised, while our management gets away with lies and breaking the law.
We have been negotiating for over a year on remote work policy, sometimes under difficult conditions. An agreement has been in place since September in some studios. Trampled underfoot! Our colleagues in entities without an agreement? At the mercy of arbitrary decisions. We are told about responsibility, but those who wield this world so easily do not take any responsibility for the consequences of their catastrophic management, the latest result being the elimination of 200 jobs at Ubisoft's headquarters.
In a nutshell, the patience of the unions has completely run out after another not overly fruitful year for the publisher. Therefore, a "massive international strike" has been announced for February 10-12.
As noted by PC Gamer, this coincides with the release of Ubisoft's quarterly fiscal report on February 12. Maybe the unions just want to make sure the company isn't trying to distract from the criticism by flaunting their financial results and talking up the benefits of their new "homegrown" revolution.
Nevertheless, the actual "international" nature of the strike remains an open question, given the different situations of unions outside France. We will find out the effects of the union's appeals in 2 weeks.
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Author: Jacob Blazewicz
Graduated with a master's degree in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw with a thesis dedicated to this very subject. Started his adventure with gamepressure.com in 2015, writing in the Newsroom and later also in the film and technology sections (also contributed to the Encyclopedia). Interested in video games (and not only video games) for years. He began with platform games and, to this day, remains a big fan of them (including Metroidvania). Also shows interest in card games (including paper), fighting games, soulslikes, and basically everything about games as such. Marvels at pixelated characters from games dating back to the time of the Game Boy (if not older).
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