Paris (awp/afp) – After a year 2024 marked by financial difficulties and several days of strike, the video game giant Ubisoft wants to “ease” tensions on Wednesday with a day of “social consultation” bringing together unions and staff representatives.
The French publisher wishes to “establish (its) 2025 work plan on social issues” and “allow the company to regain its serenity”, he indicated when this meeting was announced in December.
Meetings with staff representatives will take place in its various French studios, notably in Paris, Montpellier and Annecy, while union delegates will be received at Ubisoft headquarters, in the Paris suburbs.
“This invitation remains very vague,” regretted Chakib Mataoui, Solidaires IT delegate at Ubisoft, to AFP, who nevertheless hopes for concessions from management on teleworking and salaries.
Vincent Cambedouzou, delegate of the Video Game Workers’ Union (STJV), “does not expect anything” but “always remains ready to respond to a real desire for social dialogue if it is proposed to us”.
In 2024, Ubisoft faced several strikes, notably in February and October, relating to remuneration and teleworking conditions.
According to the unions, they mobilized up to a quarter of the employees, out of the 4,000 that the company has in France.
-Sector-wide strike
On Thursday, the STJV also called for a national strike across the sector on February 13 – “a first”, according to the organization – to demand better working conditions and an end to job cuts in the industry , which is going through a wave of layoffs and studio closures.
In the turmoil on the financial markets after several games with disappointing sales, Ubisoft indicated in early January that it was considering several “strategic and capital-intensive” options for its future, while rumors of takeover and exit from the stock market are becoming more and more insistent. .
At the beginning of December, it announced the shutdown of its online shooter “XDefiant”, leading to the elimination of 277 jobs and the closure of three production studios, notably in San Francisco and Osaka.
The group, which had 18,666 employees worldwide at the end of September, launched a global savings plan almost two years ago leading to the departure of nearly 2,000 employees, via unreplaced departures and layoffs.
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