Ubisoft CEO Apologizes to Employees Over Controversial Appeal
Ubisoft's CEO apparently apologized to employees for the contents of an email that was said to have been misunderstood. However, this did not calm the moods.
Yves Guillemot has apologized to Ubisoft employees for his recent statement. According to Kotaku what's today's internal meeting began, later taking the form of a question-and-answer session organized by the French publisher after the unfortunate e-mail from the CEO to developers employed by the company, sent last week.
Guillemot's recent message to employees was received coldly, because - according to representatives of the Solidaires Informatique labor union - Ubisoft's CEO not only underestimated the efforts of his subordinates to date, but de facto blamed them for the company's recent problems.
At the beginning of today's meeting Guillemot was expected to apologize not so much for his words, but for how they were received. Allegedly, he did not mean to heap responsibility on the employees, but to emphasize that he "needs their talent and their energy," and that it is up to him and Ubisoft's management to initiate measures to "create the conditions that will enables us to succeed together."
According to Kotaku, not all developers believed these declarations. The remainder of the meeting also failed to assuage their fears, notably the board members did not address the recent strike announcement at all (at least not directly); wewe wrote about this yesterday. Moreover, Guillemot vaguely addressed the issue of potential layoffs.
Kotaku's information confirms also that Ubisoft intends to focus on its flagship brands, such as Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and games signed with Tom Clancy's name. This would explain the cancelation of several new games, which - as claims informant Tom Henderson - was to include Project Q, announced last year.
