Ubisoft union representatives are calling for Yves Guillemot - the publisher's CEO - to resign. This comes after the gaming giant announced that it would be undergoing huge restructuring efforts. This resulted in the cancellation and delays of multiple upcoming titles, and it is feared this will cause a mass exodus of talent from Ubi.
Someone that Solidaires Informatique union representatives Marc Rutschlé and Chakib Mataoui wouldn't mind making their exit is Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. Speaking with Game Developer recently, they said that staff feel betrayed by top management following the reset.
"It's his company, at the end of the day," Rutschlé said. "But everyone around him are just yes men. That was also the issue during the sexual [harassment] scandal in 2020." He went onto add that while he'd like to see a change from top management, that he "expects nothing" from Guillemot.
Mataoui also critiqued Guillemot's decision to name his son as co-CEO of the new subsidiary where some of Ubisoft's biggest franchises will now be developed. "If you just put your white male friends in [those jobs], then you don't promote any diversity or get any new opinions or ideas," he said, calling Guillemot out for the blatant nepotism. "We are in a creative job. We need new ideas to come in to [help us] make great new games. But we don't have that. We don't have this mindset for creativity."
"The situation right now is that we don't trust these people," Mataoui continued, saying that management has failed to address complaints employees have had since 2020. Rutschlé even goes so far as to say people have a "level of hate" for Guillemot that means he should "move on."
Ubisoft's internal strife continues, then, and we'll have to see if at any point the ship can be turned around.