Ubisoft employees have gone on strike for the second time this year. The latest walkout is a response to the company’s partial refusal to allow remote work.
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- Hundreds of Ubisoft workers took to the streets of France yesterday, Le Monde reported on October 15. The walkout is expected to last three days.
- According to French gaming union Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV), more than 700 employees agreed to take part in the latest strike. Around 50 people walked out in Montpellier, in addition to more than 100 picketing in Paris.
- This comes just weeks after Ubisoft told staff in September that it expected them to visit the office at least three days a week, abandoning its hybrid work model (via GamesIndustry.biz). The publisher believes this decision will boost creativity and teamwork.
- STJV then called for a strike, saying that the company announced the changes without any “tangible justification” or any consultation with the workers. “After more than five years of working efficiently in the current remote-work context, many of our colleagues have built or rebuilt their lives (family life, housing, parenthood, etc.) and simply cannot return to the previous working conditions. Our employer knows this perfectly well,” the union said in a statement.
- In February, around 700 Ubisoft employees went on strike to protest low wages after the company “offered a budget dedicated to raises that would be lower than inflation for the second year in a row” as part of its cost-cutting initiatives.
Ubisoft has been in a turmoil for months now. The company saw its shares have almost halved since the start of 2024, driven by the lower-than-expected launch of Star Wars Outlaws and AJ Investment’s call to take the company private.
Earlier this month, a few sources told Bloomberg that the Guillemot family and Tencent have been considering various options, including a company buyout.