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[marquimvfs]

After the Tencent deal, where the chinese company injected some pocket change in order to keep Ubisoft afloat, there's an ongoing restructuring program that is looking to cutting costs, and apparently it is aimed at Massive devs:

"As part of our ongoing evolution and long-term planning, we have recently realigned our teams and resources to strengthen our roadmap, ensuring our continued focus on The Division franchise and the technologies, including Snowdrop and Ubisoft Connect, that power our games,"

"To support this transition responsibly, we introduced a voluntary career transition program, 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."

After so many failures, I think it is more than fair with the devs, given that the program comes with a benefits package to help the professionals relocate themselves, instead of just throwing them away at the pavement. Let's see how the story unfolds from here.

Ubisoft Asks Devs At Star Wars Outlaws Studio To Lay Themselves Off

Massive gets downsized

kotaku.com

 

[kiphalfton]

"Please quit so we don't have to pay out your unemployment"

 

[Fake]

But AC:Shadows was a sucess.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I saw this earlier and was very confused

Also is this the first time we've seen them confirm The Division 3? They are by far the best modern Ubisoft games, but I'm sure a new one will be a hellish GaaS

 

[StueyDuck]

Bosses to their 400 pink-haired gender fluid activist artists and social media team

 

[marquimvfs]

"Please quit so we don't have to pay out your unemployment"

Yeah, but that isn't even aimed at the whole studio, just "eligible team members".

 

[mayham2199]

But AC:Shadows was a sucess.

Before Ubisoft left Circana reporting it was #3 for the year. Having one successful game but several failures before isn't enough to save any company. Especially one as large as Ubisoft.

 

[marquimvfs]

Also is this the first time we've seen them confirm The Division 3?

I think so, but on the other hand, it being on the roadmap doesn't mean much, given that the franchise could reach fatigue sooner than that.

 

[Kacho]

Yeah, but that isn't even aimed at the whole studio, just "eligible team members".

90% of the studio is eligible

 

[Ashamam]

Start by sacking the person who came up with the verbiage. Volunteer Career Transition..... wtf. Voluntary redundancies would have saved them the whole paragraph and avoided insulting everyones intelligence. 'On their own terms' is just code for jump before we push.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[Plague Doctor]

Why?

They had the massive success of AC:Shadows.

Everyone is safe cause that made a crazy profit and was beloved.

That's what journalist told me.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

 

[Begleiter]

The writing has been on the wall for a while. It might be best to get out now before the Guillemot family pull whatever scam it is they're cooking up with Tencent and Unisoft becomes the centre of a legal quagmire.

 

[forsakkenSoul]

I believe The Division 2 was a good financial success for the studio, but having one successful game and two massive failures, one with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and the other with Star Wars Outlaws, it's no surprise to read this.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Ubisoft are a good developer generally.

They have just squandered it all by shoehorning micro transactions in to games where they shouldn't be and making ridiculous size game worlds that are not interesting or fun to explore.

I like a lot of the games of there's I play but they are so few and far between now as you know if you start one it's going to take a LONG time to see the credits.

 

[Evil Calvin]

AAA publishers and studios are done. They all want unattainable profits and seek the Fortnite money. Unattainable expectations. There needs to be a hard reset and get this under control. CEO's and upper management of these companies don't need to be making double-digit millions each year. Publishers don't need a continuous inflex of cash from each title after a year or two. It's all in a downward spiral.

No wonder the best games I've played this year are either indies or AA games. Very few 'AAA' games. They are toast.

 

[Loomy]

"Please quit so we don't have to pay out your unemployment"

More like "Please quit with this severance package which is likely to be 4-6 months of pay"

Anyone not taking this deal is going to be in a shitty situation at the end of the year when they start laying people off.

 

[Topher]

"Please quit so we don't have to pay out your unemployment"

Or "please quit because we are not allowed to fire you"

 

[Haint]

I believe The Division 2 was a good financial success for the studio, but having one successful game and two massive failures, one with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and the other with Star Wars Outlaws, it's no surprise to read this.

Mind blowing they funded Gayvatar and Sheboss Wars over a AAAA Division 3 they should have been working on this whole time. The extortive royalties alone made those guaranteed failures from day 0.

 

[Peroroncino]

Blue hairs should get on that, before Saudis move in for good and will boot you anyway, but without benefits.

 

[Chittagong]

RedLynx got shitcanned to mobile purgatory

 

[calico]

 

[jshackles]

These people seem to hate themselves so much, they're probably jumping over each other to volunteer

 

[Mister Wolf]

The activists won't leave voluntarily. They get off on injecting their beliefs into these AAA games. Otherwise they would be relegated to indie titles that everyone would ignore.

 

[SuperC]

Blue hairs should get on that, before Saudis move in for good and will boot you anyway, but without benefits.

Will never happen.
Macron actually came to Saudi Arabia trying to convince them to buy Ubisoft but they declined the offer
Ubisoft will probably go bankrupt next year

 

[joey Dubs]

As opposed to involuntary resignation?

 

[simpatico]

They can't even fire people right. Unless you think the entire staff is shit, you should be a little more selective.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yeah, but that isn't even aimed at the whole studio, just "eligible team members".

Good 'ol Voluntary Layoffs program.

Blessing in disguise for people since many people love it. They were already on the way out, or close to retirement so it's basically a big bonus payment to leave. I knew people at my past company who did it and a lot of 20+ year club people took it and retired. They were happy as a clam. And one person took a big pay out and then got another job almost right away. lol

But as you said, it's weird that it's eligible members. Every company I've heard do it for fam and old coworkers at my old company the program was offered companywide. A newbie just hired still got the offer.

They must have some kind of agenda with the offer. Like maybe it's based on senioirity. Or, the offer was to shitty employees or teams while the people they want to keep werent offered it.

 

[Evil Calvin]

More like "Please quit with this severance package which is likely to be 4-6 months of pay"

Anyone not taking this deal is going to be in a shitty situation at the end of the year when they start laying people off.

I don't think you get severance when you quit. You need to be laid off.

 

[BigBeauford]

Look, you shot your shot with an uglified girl boss protagonist using Star Wars as a vehicle to push your open world ubislop formula.






Now go clean our your desk.

 

[Barneyco]

Is that the kid from the movie Mask

 

[DarkShadowXI]

I think a lot of us voluntarily resignated ourselves away from Ubisoft, too

 

[Effigenius]

Fantastic news. NOw we will get more games like Expedition 33 when their devs actually get to make the games they want.

 

[marquimvfs]

I think a lot of us voluntarily resignated ourselves away from Ubisoft, too

Yeah. My last game from Ubisoft was back at the PS360 era.

 

[kpopSuperstar]

Avatar and Outlaws didn't catch on but that is two huge well made games, they are fools to throw them out, they got the talent they just need the idea. They did the same nonsense with the developers of Rayman Origins and Legends, which was a superb team.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

That statement is the final boss of

CORP CORP

 

[kapshin]

Is this the Ubisoft+ program?

 

[Fafalada]

"Please quit so we don't have to pay out your unemployment"

I don't think you get severance when you quit. You need to be laid off.

This is EU - they're absolutely offering them extra severance packages to quit.
The 'US style' layoffs aren't possible either so every company wants to minimize going through the complexity of those.

 

[Laptop1991]

Ubisoft is reaping what they sowed, i haven't bought a UBI title since Valhalla, i'm not giving them money to tell me i don't own my games, and they arn't making games i want to play anymore and they are not selling and making money, so the resignation's aren't surprising anyway, that's why they had to sell off part of their company, but the same people who ran it down are still in charge!

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Not sure when the last time I played a UBI game. All I know is each time I wanted to test a demo/beta download you got to sign up for a UBI profile. Once I see that screen, I dont bother and delete the game.

 

[Saber]

Yasuke not only destroyed history but also Ubisoft. That one definitivelly gonna be marked as a historical event.

 

[JayK47]

Sounds like a fun place to work.

 

[ZehDon]

I saw this earlier and was very confused

Also is this the first time we've seen them confirm The Division 3? They are by far the best modern Ubisoft games, but I'm sure a new one will be a hellish GaaS

Yeah, that's the first TD3 I've seen. Good to know they're working on it - loved 1 and 2. Fingers crossed it's along those lines and not just a straight cash grab to keep Ubisoft afloat.

 

[ReBurn]

If they're going to pay you to leave then take the money and be the first to go. You have first crack at any available jobs before the bloodbath begins.

 

[Loomy]

I don't think you get severance when you quit. You need to be laid off.

Voluntary resignation or other programs like that comes with financial incentives.

 

[Durin]

I remember a day when I used to actually look forward to their games.

Long past the days of Rainbow Six Vegas, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, or AC being a new fun idea instead of bloated iteration.

 

[Deerock71]

 

[ssringo]

A company I do contract work for has done something similar where they made offers to long term employees to "retire" with the not so subtle suggestion that if they don't accept they might be part of the "downsizing" plans in the near future. The company was doing quite badly financially but they've managed to turn things around since.

 

[ByWatterson]

All resignations are voluntary and if you have to emphasize that, your resignations are just nicer firings.