Ubisoft intended to lay off employees regardless of the success of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.
Ubisoft Barcelona employees have begun a three-day strike to protest the company's decision to cut 51 jobs. The action is organized by the Coordinadora Sindical del Videojuego (CSVI) union and takes place amidst ongoing negotiations regarding the upcoming layoffs.
Despite the commercial success of the game, 51 Ubisoft Barcelona employees will lose their jobs in the coming weeks. After an intense production cycle, the company justifies the cuts as a “strategic change.” After years of dedication to its team, the company has turned its back on us. We will never see the fruits of our labor, and the reward for our work will be job loss.
The Ubisoft Barcelona team recently completed work on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced. According to technical and gameplay animator Manel Cota, employees at the Barcelona studio were responsible for creating all underwater levels in the game. He noted that “this same team is now being laid off because Ubisoft believes that's what we deserve.”
Although the cuts became particularly resonant after the successful release of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, which, according to the company, sold over 2 million copies on its first day, plans for restructuring were announced back in early June.
At that time, it was reported that Ubisoft was closing studios in Winnipeg and Belgrade, and also carrying out a large-scale reorganization of its Barcelona office. In total, up to 380 employees could be affected by the changes. At the same time, Ubisoft Barcelona is planned to be completely reoriented towards the development of Rainbow Six series projects.
As part of the strike, employees put forward four main demands:
- cancel the layoff of 51 employees
- provide more reliable employment guarantees to prevent mass layoffs in the future
- restore the previous remote work policy, which allowed working from home up to 60% of working hours
- fulfill previously promised promotions and salary increases
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