Late last month, Ubisoft announced a major organisational restructure which saw, among many other things, several studio closures and six game cancellations. This week, in response to the changes, at least 1,200 Ubisoft workers have taken to the streets in a three-day international strike.
The strike began on 10th February and runs until today. Ubisoft Paris’ Solidaires Informatique union representative, Marc Rutschlé, told Gamesindustry.biz that the strike mainly took place in Paris, though there has also been “additional activity” at Ubisoft Milan.
“At this stage, it seems clear to us that [Ubisoft CEO] Yves Guillemot has no knowledge or understanding of his company or its employees,” Rutschlé told Gamesindustry, “The company is continuing its cost reduction and layoff plan.”
Rutschlé said that the Ubisoft staff are “already working under pressure, often understaffed,” with no meaningful pay rises in “several years”. On top of this, Ubisoft has issued a return-to-office mandate to “boost the collective performance of AAA,” which requires all staff to work five days a week from the Ubisoft offices — a policy that previously saw employees walk out on strike back in 2024.
The Solidaires Informatique union organised a smaller strike on 22nd January, the day after Ubisoft published its restructuring plan.
Today (12th Feb) marks the end of this strike, but it remains to be seen whether any further action will come in the future. Ubisoft itself will be sharing additional information on the restructure today, so we’ll keep an eye out for any developments.
