Ubisoft hasn’t had the best couple of years. A string of flops and disappointments means the company isn’t in the best shape as it heads into 2023, so in an attempt to get everyone firing last week CEO Yves Guillemot sent an email to staff telling them “The ball is in your court”. It did not go down well.
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It was, in fact, about as bad as one of these emails can get, doing everything from blaming workers for poor results to advocating for extra work. As a result, the union Solidaires Informatique—which has members at Ubisoft’s Paris offices—has called for a strike next week.
The union is calling the strike to not only protest Guillemot’s dismissive comments, but to also call for better pay and conditions at the company, in particular a 10% payrise to account for the inflation crisis and the implementation of a four-day working week.
Here’s their statement in full:
Next fiscal year, which runs through March 2024, Ubisoft said it plans to release at least one additional unannounced big game besides Skull and Bones, Avatar, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Guillemot calls it “the biggest pipeline in Ubisoft history” in his email to staff and said he’s excited to share more at this year’s E3 conference in June.
Update 1/20/2023 3:12 p.m. ET: Guillemot was set to meet staff at Ubisoft’s Paris studio in a face-to-face Q&A meeting on Thursday but cancelled, two sources familiar with the event told Kotaku. It would have come a day after the CEO apologized for his earlier “ball is in your court” comment in a companywide townhall.
