In solidarity with the 700 French Ubisoft employees who walked off the job across its Paris, Lyon, Montpellier, and Annecy offices last week, Ubisoft's Milan office downed tools as the unhappy company sentiment spread to Italy. The dispute began over a return-to-work mandate for French employees, with Milanese staff taking preemptive steps to avoid being targeted next.
As reported by Deadline (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz), concerns were expressed by Italian union Fiom Cgil that the compulsory, three-days-a-week RTO decree could just as quickly upend the lives of its members. In solidarity, it called a strike on the 17th October, sending a clear message to Ubisoft's C-Suite. A representative from Fiom Cgil wrote:
"It is unthinkable that a young person who lives in another region or any case far from our territory could spend three days a week in Milan, turning their existence upside down: it is not economically sustainable and unfair on a human level."
Where do you think this leads? Is Ubisoft facing an internal revolution in addition to a potential buyout, on top of delays and underwhelming game releases in Assassin's Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws, respectively? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source deadline.com, via gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 29
I'd strike too if there wasn't another Rayman game in sight.
We've done it now boys. We got em backed into a corner. Good on ya Milan workers.
It sucks that the likely scenario from this is an acquisition from someone like NetEase or Tencent. However, leadership at Ubisoft has been so disgusting for ages now. We don’t live in a reality where just the top level is taken out, there’s always layoffs that affect lower levels. But something needs to change, and it needed to ages ago.
Another day, and other Ubisoft headline. Anyone else starting to think they just aren’t going to last much longer? I honestly feel they either won’t be by the the end of the year, or probably close up shop after AC: Shadows is released. If it even gets released.
It sort of seems to me that AC Shadows will likely have another delay. Sort of seems like the company is imploding.
It seems the staff is being XDefiant toward management. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one. It seems the company may soon be Skull and Bones. Sorry, couldn’t resist that one either. They’re a Far Cry away from a good public image as a company right now. Alright, alright, last pun…
@somnambulance so you're saying you can't see them Rayman solvent? They may just dance through this slump.
Everyone at Ubisoft, from top to bottom has lost the plot completely. At his point they might aswell ALL go on strike, get it over with. 🔥
They don't want to go into the work physically because they all gotta look at eachother knowing they're making slop
Boy, Ubisoft really has a ton of issues going on lately.
Curious to see what happens.
I support the workers. The brass has treated them like crap for far too long.
Hopefully they manage to fix outlaws before ubu implodes..... Ahhhh who am I kidding it won't be fixed... like many other ubi games.... oh well hopefully something good comes out of this.
At this point, I don't see how Ubisoft is going to get themselves out of this mess.
100% agree with the striking workers in this case.
Beautiful, love to see worker solidarity.
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Wow, imagine having to go to an office to work, for 3 days a week!!!
I remember the old days of having to go in 5 DAYS A WEEK!!!!
Let that sink in for a moment.
At this point ubisoft ceo should just close down ubisoft and make ubisoft 2 lol. And also take all their previous lost talent back, like rayman & child of light maker, those 2 game is really good.
@Futureshark judging by the last paragraph, it seems they are hiring people who live extremely far away from work and will have to commute, I assume at great expense and time.
@MidnightDragonDX Indeed, imagine having to GO INTO AN OFFICE to work! And three days a week, to boot, not the entire workweek!
What egregious and unfair working conditions! I have to go into the office three days a week too, and it’s SUCH TORTURE oh wait it’s a perfectly reasonable request. Never mind.
Good for them! All hope is lost on Beyond Good and Evil 2
@Balosi
yep, unfortunately commuting is all part of going to the office, it takes time, can be stressful and also you have to pay for it yourself. However that's all accepted as part of the social contract.
If Ubisoft promised in the contract that staff could WFH whenever they liked and then changed the rules to mandate 3 days a week then I would agree.
However I suspect there would be no contractual promise made and those who live long distance from the office were probably warned on hire to expect to be in the office at some point in the future.
Lastly, I highly doubt the majority of the workers live so far away from the office that they cannot get in, my longest commute was 2 hours each way which was painful and I would not like to do it again. I did it though and I didn't go on strike about it (although it was the main driver for me to look for work elsewhere after a couple of years).
Ubisoft games feel like a "made-at-home" product. Like that one time my mom told me we had no money for McDonald's and she made a hamburger just like a Big Mac! It wasn't.
As an individual with experience I like Work From Home, but a lot of companies are Returning To Office a few days a week for valid reasons.
E.g. With WFH most companies are struggling to mentor graduates well and get them to improve quickly. They are behind. We aren't giving the next generation the right training, a lot of it just happens by watching and copying, same as every human or animal. It may be possible to fulfil this remotely but it's harder as so much of it is organic, find someone you trust and ask them questions after work or at lunch.
Additionally it's leading to less stickiness in jobs with people not feeling ties, lower camaraderie from not working in person, leading to many staff just going where the best money is. That is a problem for businesses.
It's a complex situation, no one voice is right, but I can understand why businesses are taking a strong stance on this even if it's unpopular. Hope they manage to find a resolution that suits all parties, but there will need to be compromise on all sides.
Ubisoft seem to be seriously badly managed. How guillemot is still in charge I have no idea.
I'd lay them all off! There are thousands of people around that WANT to work and lost their job anyway xD
If things just were that simple
Full solidarity with the comrades at Ubisoft!
Strike 'em hard ✊
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Unfortunately the best thing ubisoft can do labour wise is to fire 1000s of people.
Everyone striking about having to go back to the office won't help much.
They also need to have a clear out at the top as well which won't ever happen
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