Ubisoft CEO’s Comments Pushes Staff to Go On Strike; Here Is Why the Company Is Scrapping and Delaying Titles
Recently, we learned about Ubisoft’s financial situation and how 2022 has not been a fruitful year for the company. We were informed about the game scrapping 3 unannounced titles, delaying the likes of Skull and Bones and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and how Mario+Rabbids: Spark of Hope and Just Dance 2023 did not perform according to expectations.
It seems that the turbulence has not yet settled, as the employees at Ubisoft Paris have just made the decision to go on strike. It appears that this decision was pushed due to an email (via Kotaku) that was sent by Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, to the staff.
Through the email, the first thing he spoke about was to be careful and strategic with the spending. Then he asked the employees to be as “efficient and lean as possible.” Finally, he told them that the “ball is in your court” to meet deadlines and also match the expected level of quality.
That is when Solidaires Informatique, Ubisoft Paris’ tech union, asked the employees to go on strike. The duration of the strike is decided to be a half-day one on January 27. They also tweeted out a statement saying that “Mr Guillemot” wishes to put his employees under pressure, “Let us respond with a strike”. They also added that Guillemot wishes to put pressure on salaries, that is also why they should go on strike.
📢Ubisoft Paris – Appel à la grève
Vendredi 27 – après-midi
M. Guillemot veut mettre la pression à ses employés. Répondons lui par la grève. ✊📢CALL TO STRIKE – FRIDAY 27th – Afternoon
M. Guillemot want to put pressure on the salaries. Let’s strike. ✊ pic.twitter.com/1SaS5SdwFM— Solidaires Informatique Jeu Vidéo (@SolInfoJeuVideo) January 17, 2023
Ubisoft’s reason for scrapping and postponing titles
In other news, a report by InsiderGaming brings responses from five existing and former employees from Ubisoft on why the company is hell-bent on cancelling and delaying titles. One of the employees stated that the recent situation hasn’t impacted them, and they were told by the higher ups that the reason for cancellations and delays was the hybrid and remote working format the company was following.
Other employees stated in unison that titles they were working on were either cancelled or delayed as they were “not what gamers wanted”. They came to this conclusion after they received such responses for the titles during Q and A sessions as well as playtests. Lastly, all hope is not lost, as one of the employees did state that the games were being delayed to bring more quality to them.
