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Ubisoft announced a massive shakeup in January which, among many other things, forces employees to spend five days a week in the office. One Ubisoft developer, 13-year Assassin's Creed veteran David Michaud-Cromp, was publicly critical of the publisher's decision. He's now been fired.
As part of the restructure announcement last month, Ubisoft said it "intends to return to five days per week on site for all teams, complemented by an annual allowance of working-from-home days." The company argued that "in-person collaboration is a key enabler of collective efficiency, creativity and success in a persistently more selective AAA market."
"So... " Michaud-Cromp said in a LinkedIn post last week. "Ubisoft wanna bring back 5 days in the office... because they 'believe in collaboration'... but c'mon, we're not completely stupid... we very well know why you want to go back to 5 days in the office…"
With this post, Michaud-Cromp included a link to a video which argues that return-to-office mandates are essentially a way for companies to tidily lay off employees who prefer to work from home. "Spoiler alert: it's not about efficiency or collaboration," he added.
A few days later, Michaud-Cromp said he was handed a "three-day unpaid disciplinary suspension" in relation to his earlier comments. Now, he's been fired altogether.
"Today, I was terminated by Ubisoft, effective immediately," Michaud-Cromp writes in another LinkedIn post. "This was not my decision. I won’t be discussing internal details or circumstances."
Michaud-Cromp joined Ubisoft in 2012, first working on Assassin's Creed Unity as a level designer. He continued level design duties across Syndicate, Origins, Valhalla, and on Watch Dogs Legion. Since 2022, he'd been team lead on level design for Assassin's Creed Shadows.
"Sharing feedback or opinions respectfully does not lead to a dismissal," Ubisoft says in a statement to Kotaku. "We have a clear Code of Conduct that outlines our shared expectations for working together safely and respectfully, which employees review and sign each year. When that is breached, our established procedures apply, including an escalation of measures depending on the nature, severity, and repetition of the breach."
In a statement accompanying the restructure news, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that the company will "accelerate our cost reductions initiatives to rightsize the organization," and that will almost certainly involve layoffs. Ubisoft has already made a proposal for "voluntary" layoffs that could cut up to 200 employees at its Paris headquarters, prompting stern walk out threats from French unions.
