French Ubisoft employees push for strike and raises after CEO comments

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

In response to controversial comments from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, a French union representing Ubisoft employees is calling for a strike in support of 10% raises and a four-day work week.

Ubisoft was "clearly disappointed" by the results in its latest financial report, which saw the company confirm the cancellation of three unannounced projects and reveal yet another delay for Skull & Bones. In the wake of that report, CEO Yves Guillemot sent an email to staff (via Kotaku) asking them to "be especially careful and strategic with your spending and initiatives, to ensure we’re being as efficient and lean as possible."

According to French union Solidaires Informatique (via GamesIndustry.biz), which represents employees at Ubisoft Paris, "Mr. Guillemot is trying to shift the blame (once again) onto the employees; he expects us to be mobilized, to 'give it our all', to be 'as efficient and lean as possible'. These words mean something: overtime, managerial pressure, burnout, etc."

The union is also calling for a four-day work week, "transparency on the evolution of the workforce," and "a strong commitment against disguised dismissals and a condemnation of abusive managerial policies that push employees to resign".

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.