A tumultuous end to the year for Ubisoft. The Spanish publisher, already splashed more than a year and a half ago by serious accusations concerning its management of the numerous cases of harassment and sexual assault in its premises, is beginning to reap the fruits of its inaction.
According to a survey by Stephen Totilo for Axios, Ubisoft is experiencing a veritable exodus of its developers – and is struggling to recruit new ones.
Industry's largest employer struggles to retain talent
Ubisoft currently has more than 20 employees worldwide. This is more than double the staff employed by Activision-Blizzard. Only, this work force is gradually drying up, describes Axios. The site went to meet several developers who describe “a flood of departures like we have never seen”.
According to the count made by the American site, five of the leading personalities in the development of Far Cry 6 left the ranks this year, and twelve of their counterparts who worked on Assassin's Creed Valhalla last year would have done the same. Ubisoft Montreal and Toronto studios are also said to be responsible for the loss of more than 60 people over the past six months. An alarming situation, which causes significant slowdowns in the good performance of current projects, confides a developer.
Usually very attractive, the company would also find it very difficult to recruit. Since last April, Ubisoft would have recruited only 2600 people against more than 4500 over the same period over the past two years. And Anika Grant, "Chief People Officer" of the studio, confirmed to Axios that "our attrition rate today is a little higher than usual". This metric, which allows a company to assess the retention of its employees, would be 12% (it's 16% at Activision-Blizzard, but 9% at EA, 8% at Take-Two and 7% at Epic Games ).
Salaries that are too low and a weak response to harassment cases
So why has Ubisoft suddenly become a company that developers are looking to flee? Stephen Totilo interviewed a dozen current and past employees, and several reasons were given.
Among the most cited, we note unattractive salaries for the sector. A situation that Ubisoft has recently tried to address; increases in compensation have been announced for the group's Canadian studios. But the talents of Ubisoft are regularly courted by newcomers who would offer them much more advantageous offers. One of the people interviewed by the journalist says he tripled his salary when he left Ubisoft.
Developers are also numerous to express their frustration with regard to the creative freedom (or rather the absence thereof) which is left to them. "There's something about the management and the willingness to stick to the bare minimum in terms of creativity that really put me off," a former employee told the site.
Also, and we suspect it: the funny management by Ubisoft of the countless cases of harassment and sexual assault that were brought to light in the summer of 2020 weighs a certain weight in the thinking of certain hesitant developers. It is now more than 130 days since the A Better Ubisoft collective sent an open letter to the CEO of the company, Yves Guillemot, asking for concrete actions to fight against the deleterious climate that reigns in the studios. A letter that has so far remained unanswered.
Moreover, we now understand a little better why Ubisoft announced the remake of the legendary Splinter Cell in such a strange way − by inviting those interested to apply to help make this project a reality.
