Ubisoft workers strike in protest of job cuts and return-to-office mandate

Ubisoft's struggles continued this week, with at least 1,200 employees across France and Italy participating in a three-day strike. This comes weeks after the company announced a major restructure resulting in job losses, as well as issued an unpopular return-to-office mandate.

Kicking off on Feb. 10, the industrial action is in response to Ubisoft announcing a massive restructure last month, including the cancellation of six games (once of which was the long-awaited Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake). According to the company, the restructure was designed to improve both its growth and its finances.

Ubisoft had already reduced its headcount from almost 21,000 in 2022 to 17,097 by last November, conducting ongoing layoffs intended to reduce costs. Now this new structural shakeup is expected to result in even more job losses. Less than a week after the restructuring was announced, Ubisoft revealed that it would implement a voluntary departure plan at its Paris headquarters to cut approximately 200 employees.

"We were informed of this at the same time as the press — as none of these changes had been discussed during the mandatory consultations with the works councils a few days earlier!" the unions claimed in a joint statement shared on Bluesky.

As such, the unions are calling for an end to "top-down decisions" and cost-cutting plans which they state have employees shouldering the brunt of the consequences. Ubisoft's cost-cutting measures have thus far included the closure of its Halifax and Stockholm studios, as well as job losses at its Abu Dhabi and Massive studios.

"[I]t seems clear today that management has lost sight of the very driving force behind our industry: its workers," wrote the unions. "The announced transformation claims to place games at the heart of its strategy, but without us, these games cannot exist."

In addition to these concerns, unions are also protesting Ubisoft's return to mandatory in-office working revealed with the restructure, which now requires employees to come in five days a week. Demanding an end to "coercive control" of working conditions as well as Ubisoft's "anti-remote-work obsession," the unions have accused the company of creating a work environment unpleasant enough that employees will want to quit.

"We are told about responsibilities, but those who wield this word 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," the unions wrote. "We are not fooled: rather than taking financial responsibility for layoffs, [Ubisoft's management] prefer to push us out by making our working conditions unbearable."

Though Ubisoft's cost-cutting plans involve reducing its head count, the company simultaneously announced last month that it will be making "accelerated investments behind player-facing Generative AI." Ubisoft's stock plummeted by at least 39 percent after announcing its restructuring plans, and have still not recovered three weeks on.

The strike was organised by five French Ubisoft unions: the French Confederation of Management – General Confederation of Executives (CFE-CGC), Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), Printemps Écologique, Solidaires Informatique, and the Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV). Though most of the striking employees are in France, some at Ubisoft Milan are also participating.