Several union organizations are calling on Ubisoft employees to go on strike starting Tuesday, October 15.
Will Ubisoft employees stop working this Tuesday, October 15? In any case, this is the wish expressed by several internal members of the video game studio and relayed by several unions specialized, or not, in video games.
In question: the recent announcements from Ubisoft management to put an end to complete teleworking within the company and the return to the office for at least three days a week. An announcement made in the middle of September through an email sent to all studio employees. A turnaround in the situation that does not go down well with several Ubisoft employees who denounce a decision “arbitrary” And “experienced as a punishment”.
Especially since a significant number of Ubisoft employees are still working completely remotely, particularly at the Saint-Mandé headquarters in Val-de-Marne where nearly 14% of employees are still working remotely all week. A phenomenon which has widely spread during the Covid-19 health crisis with several employees having moved and taking advantage of the implementation of partial or complete teleworking to change location and establish themselves elsewhere.
Contacted by FranceInfo, Marc Rutschlé, Solidaires IT union representative, spoke about the changes announced by Ubisoft management: “It’s a decision that is quite unfair. We are going back on a right that employees recently acquired. In the meantime, we have colleagues who have moved, who have bought houses… How are they going to do it when is it about coming back three days a week? We also have colleagues who are teleworking for health reasons. There are a thousand reasons and they are all good.
This is the second time in a year that Ubisoft has faced a strike by its employees after 700 employees already gathered last February to demand better salary conditions. Contacted by several media on the subject, Ubisoft did not respond to requests from the press.
Ubisoft, a studio crossing the desert
Ubisoft is a giant in the video game industry. The company, with its iconic licenses such as “Rayman” or “Assassin’s Creed”, has nevertheless been going through a rather difficult period in recent years. Despite employing nearly 20,000 people spread across 45 different studios, the giant faces several difficulties internally and in the sales of its latest games.
Since the toxic management and sexual harassment scandal revealed in 2021 by Libération, the company has been at the heart of regular internal conflicts.
On the sales side, things are not much better. Ubisoft’s latest big releases have not met the esteemed studio, notably with the latest “Star Wars : Outlaws” whose disappointing sales caused the company to plunge on the stock market and forced Ubisoft to postpone the next “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows” which will now be released in 2025.
Recently, Bloomberg media also revealed that the company was at the heart of several takeover rumors. Information quickly denied and put into context by several media and specialized journalists. According to the latter, the Guillemot family (founders and owners of the company) would seek above all to buy back shares in the company from the Chinese giant Tencent to exit the stock market and find more freedom in the firm’s future projects.