A Paris workers union is calling for a Ubisoft strike after CEO Yves Guillemot blamed employees for the company’s poor financial performance. Ubisoft recently announced underwhelming financial results in its most recent quarter, and in an email seen by Kotaku, Guillemot told employees that “the ball is in your court” to bring the company “back on the path to success.”
Calls for Ubisoft strike follow what employees see as shifting of blame
Union Solidaires Informatique said that Guillemot is blaming employees for decisions made higher up. Given that the direction to make games and financial decisions come from the top, it is particularly egregious to expect workers to fix what Ubisoft’s management needs to address.
Employees speaking on condition of anonymity recently said that Ubisoft cancelled and delayed games because it spread itself thin making dozens of games that players didn’t ask for.
“If the request to employees to be ‘especially careful and strategic with your spending’ is supposed to be ironic considering the company’s editorial strategy of the last few years, it is not funny,” the union said (via Eurogamer). “The ball is in our court but the money stays in his [CEO’s] pocket.”
It certainly doesn’t help that there was a mass exodus of talent at Ubisoft due to widespread workplace misconduct that many say was never adequately addressed.
