Yves Guillemot Promised to Continue Laying Off Employees and Explained How Ubisoft Ended Up in Its Current Situation

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot explained the large-scale layoffs in the company by mistaken expectations of sustained growth in demand for games after the COVID-19 pandemic. He said this in an interview with Variety.

The statement came less than a day after it became known about the dismissal of 40 employees at the Canadian studio Ubisoft Toronto. Answering a question about possible new reductions, in addition to the already announced 200 positions as part of the voluntary departure plan, Guillemot noted that additional savings measures in the amount of 200 million euros provide for "selective restructuring throughout the company."

We are talking about the program of "voluntary mutual termination of the contract", offered to Ubisoft Paris employees last month. As part of this initiative, employees are offered to leave the company by agreement of the parties. According to Guillemot, the priority remains "disciplined personnel management", which means an emphasis on voluntary departures and strict control over hiring for replacements and new positions.

The head of Ubisoft also said that after stabilizing financial performance, the company intends to continue optimizing the business: reducing individual costs, adjusting or completely stopping some projects, improving production processes and using internal tools more efficiently. This may mean not only new layoffs, but also possible game cancellations.

Explaining the reasons for the large-scale reductions, despite the release of successful projects like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Guillemot admitted that the company overestimated the long-term effect of the pandemic boom. According to him, after COVID-19, the industry grew very quickly, counting on sustained demand, which ultimately "did not fully materialize."