"These are difficult times in the video games industry" is becoming all too common a lead-in to daily news reports, but the reality is indeed reflected in this statement. A redundancy plan has been announced today at Ubisoft Barcelona that would affect 28 per cent of its workforce, some 51 employees. This measure may sound like part of a wider restructuring package that the company has been implementing for months, but the workers have not taken it well at all.
The workforce has announced that, from tomorrow until 14 July, they will stage six partial work stoppages in protest against these redundancies, whilst also calling on the studio and company management to implement a series of measures, including, most notably, the withdrawal of the redundancies, safeguarding the studio against any further rounds of redundancies over the next five years, unblocking internal promotions, reinstating the 60/40 remote working model, and bringing salaries into line with those at other European Ubisoft studios.
Although Ubisoft Barcelona has also been affected by the same difficult circumstances facing the sector as a whole, according to data from the Spanish newspaper El Economista, it is projected to post a profit of over 1,260,000 euros in 2025, as well as being one of the five most important and most profitable development studios in the country. Its work has been recognised across Ubisoft's entire portfolio of franchises, including Rainbow Six, Assassin's Creed, Beyond Good & Evil, The Crew, Mario + Rabbids, and The Division.