Ubisoft union representatives said that the company's management will not be able to restore employees' trust as long as Yves Guillemot holds the position of CEO. Mark Rutschle and Chakib Mataoui, Ubisoft Paris employees and representatives of the Solidaires Informatique union, expressed this view in a conversation with journalists.
According to them, the internal atmosphere at the company deteriorated sharply after the recent "reset" announced by Ubisoft. It includes studio closures, the cancellation of several projects, further cost-cutting, and a mandatory return to the office for a five-day workweek. These decisions, union members claim, caused workers shock, anger, and a sense of betrayal by top management.
Screenshots of internal correspondence in the corporate Agora system reviewed by journalists show that many employees are openly criticizing management and Yves Guillemot personally. Workers are asking why he continues to lead the company after nearly five years of continuous cuts that are ultimately supposed to lead to €500 million in savings by 2028.
Rutschle emphasized that he does not consider Guillemot the sole culprit behind all of Ubisoft's problems, but reminded that as CEO he bears ultimate responsibility for what is happening. According to him, an environment has formed around the head of the company consisting of people who are not prepared to challenge his decisions — a similar situation, in the union representative's view, was already seen during the scandals related to allegations of harassment and a toxic corporate culture in 2020. "I expect nothing from this man", Rutschle stated bluntly, speaking about a possible change in leadership.
Mataoui, for his part, criticized Guillemot's decision to appoint his son Charlie co-head of a new subsidiary structure under whose umbrella Ubisoft's key franchises will be placed. He called this a manifestation of nepotism and noted that the practice of promoting "their own" people harms the company's creativity. In his opinion, the lack of diversity and new points of view is directly reflected in the quality and freshness of the games.