Over the past year and a half, dozens of key developers who worked on its main AAA hits have left Ubisoft. The employees themselves call the situation a “Great Outcome” and note that this is an unprecedented phenomenon for the company. Among the reasons for leaving are low salaries, dissatisfaction with management and creative vision.
Far Cry 6The situation was described in detail by the publication Axios.
Journalist Stephen Totilo spoke with 12 current and former Ubisoft employees to find out their opinion about the problems with personnel in the company.
Why are developers leaving Ubisoft?At least five of the 25 key developers left the Far Cry 6 team.
- Ubisoft also left 12 of the 50 employees who played an important role in the creation of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.The outcome affected entry-level and mid-level developers who worked in Ubisoft’s main Canadian offices.
- According to LinkedIn, at least 60 employees have left the studio in Montreal over the past six months.This situation has slowed down the development of current projects.
- According to one of the employees, a colleague recently asked him to help solve a problem in the game, since there was no one left in the office who would know the principles of the necessary system.Developers are leaving Ubisoft for various reasons.
- Someone is not satisfied with the low salary, others are dissatisfied with the chosen creative vision of the company, and the rest are worried about the harassment scandal that broke out last year and the lack of decisive action on the part of the management.Many veterans generally speak warmly about the time spent at Ubisoft, and one former employee is even considering a possible return to the company.
- However, for most developers, the events that have occurred over the past year and a half have played a key role in making the decision to dismiss.According to Totilo, Ubisoft has become a kind of “supermarket for other studios” in Montreal.
- Large companies like Tencent and Epic Games come to Canada, luring employees from Ubisoft and offering them the best conditions.One of the programmers noted that he was able to triple his salary by moving to another studio.
- Recruiters are willing to attract experienced specialists from Ubisoft who are dissatisfied with the current situation in the company.Ubisoft’s position
The company assures that the percentage of layoffs this year is only 2% higher than the average.
- In addition, Ubisoft has hired 2,600 people since April.However, according to LinkedIn, the employee churn rate at Ubisoft is at around 12%.
- For comparison, in Activision Blizzard, after the latest scandals, it is 16%, but this figure is significantly lower in other competitors like EA (9%), Take-Two (8%) and Epic Games (7%).To somehow slow down the exodus of employees, Ubisoft recently raised the salaries of key developers.
- According to the company, this measure increased employee retention by 50%.The increases themselves mainly affected employees of Canadian studios, and therefore developers from other Ubisoft offices were dissatisfied with such a decision of the management.
- Despite the persisting claims of discrimination in the workplace, Ubisoft continues to insist that it is doing everything possible to solve the problem.
- According to the company’s representative, now the percentage of employees who are satisfied with the conditions and are ready to recommend Ubisoft as a great place to work has returned to the average level for the gaming industry.However, it is difficult to deny the problems with personnel in the company.
- Last week, Ubisoft unexpectedly announced a remake of Splinter Cell, although it usually does not present games at such an early stage of development. Dozens of vacancies for programmers and experienced specialists are now open on the company’s website.