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It's regarded as a 'voluntary career transition program'.
"Good morning everyone and welcome back to another GRTV News. Today we have a really surprising story to talk about. Something's happening over at Ubisoft. They're going through a lot of cost-cutting measures and we're seeing this affect the developers in a rather, I would say, unusual way. It's almost as though Ubisoft has looked at its cost-cutting measures instead of just telling people as it is, you know, we're looking to cut costs, there's going to be layoffs, that sort of stuff. It feels like instead they're writing different statements almost with AI and they're producing these statements that are filled with corporate mumbo-jumbo that sort of dance around the fact that the various studios that are under the banner of the massive publisher are going to be affected in one way or another. So, for example, let's talk about massive first. So yes, Ubisoft asks Star Wars Outlaws devs to lay themselves off. They've launched a voluntary career transition programme which in plain English means they want to get rid of people. So yes, for years there have been brutal cutbacks in the gaming industry with people losing their jobs left and right, studios closing down and projects being cancelled. Many also testify to a lower willingness to take risks for new projects, which in plain language means more sequels and safe bets over titles that break new ground. One of the companies affected is Ubisoft and they are clearly not done yet. They do, however, seem to want to proceed more cautiously rather than resorting to widespread layoffs. Now their Swedish flagship developer Massive Entertainment, known for The Division 2, Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar Frontiers of Pandora most recently, has written a post on social media full of corporate news speak saying that they have introduced a voluntary redundancy programme in order to get rid of surplus staff to be able to focus more on The Division series and the Snowdrop game engine. It seems like Massive Entertainment will be more reluctant to take on projects such as Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar Frontiers of Pandora in the future, and the question is whether they will even have the resources to do so now that they are likely to lose staff. And this is the statement from Massive, which it's the, um, so you can't see it all because of the way that it's previewed in this social media post, but it's this paragraph anyway that's worth looking at. So they say, to support this transition responsibly, we introduced a voluntary career transition programme, giving eligible team members the opportunity to take their next career step on their own terms, supported by a comprehensive package that includes financial and career assistance. Um, I've never heard of being asked to move to a different job or leave your job phrased that way before. It's rather unusual. And the reason why this is particular, if this was just like one instance, you'd sort of understand it. But then we also have this, which is trials developer RedLynx announces restructuring proposal as part of Ubisoft cost-cutting measures. So it will simply reduce costs and ensure work, a strongest prioritisation and efficiency across the company's worldwide studio network. So this is what's happening. Ubisoft has revealed a new cost-cutting measure that will target developer RedLynx known for its work predominantly on the trial series. Announced in a blog post, it stated that it's a restructuring proposal has been delivered that will ultimately aim to simplify reduced costs and ensure a stronger prioritisation and efficiency across the company's worldwide studio network. So, yep, this is a lot of executive mumbo-jumbo, but if you boil it down, it's a cost-cutting policy that will result in layoffs. The statement explicitly notes that there'll be a reduction of a maximum of 60 positions as part of this proposal, but we won't know the exact specifics until negotiations begin on October 30th and eventually conclude late November. The proposal will also only affect production and administration teams. And this is also in part of an effort to change how RedLynx goes about making its games as there will soon be an emphasis on multi-platforms set up for small screens and that we'll see this in practice in two upcoming mobile games. And, um, yeah, unusual to say the least. So again, both of these things are phrased in a weird way because layoffs, as much as we don't like them, um, they're quite common these days and we're quite familiar with them and why they happen. Um, you can look at it and say that layoffs shouldn't happen in the first place, that surely you can make games for a cheaper amount of money and, um, you know, at a faster rate to then increase your profit margin. Surely that's possible because right now it's at the point where I think games are incredibly, um, I would say unsustainable with the amount of time that it takes to, um, make AAA projects in particular. But that being said, um, this is the world we live in and layoffs are common and we don't like them, but you know, at least we're familiar with them. Now, this is the thing that's weird about this is these statements are almost like Ubisoft trying to dance over the fact of what's happening. And I just don't understand why they're doing that all of a sudden. Um, if they just came out of our honest and said, look, we need to cut costs to be able to, you know, continue forward. And this is what's happening. I think people go sucks, but at least you're being straightforward with it. Uh, this here, this dancing around the thing, again, a voluntary career transition program. It's a very unusual thing to, to, to, to not just say to your staff, but to announce the public. It's one of those things. If the Ubisoft executives are telling their staff that, and it got leaked, you'd look at it and go like, that's mad that is, but they're telling everyone to the world in a very public statement. This is what's happening. It's truly, truly bizarre. Um, but again, it happening to massive and it's happening to red links, which means it wouldn't surprise me if it's happening to other Ubisoft studios around the world as well. We'll have to stay tuned and find out more, but the, uh, yeah, the key thing to know is that, uh, Ubisoft has been affected by cost cutting measures that, uh, in particular at the moment seem to be focused on massive and red links. As we know more, we should keep you posted."
"So stay tuned for your next GRTV news video. Take care of everyone."
