Ubisoft Employees Reportedly Set to Mass Quit Amid Cancelled Games and Layoff Fears

Summary:

• Employees are speaking out against executives after the recent restructuring, layoffs, and a new rule requiring everyone to work in the office five days a week.
• Industry insider warns that many of the employees might soon leave the company after all the six projects were cancelled.
• French game industry unions have organized strikes, and they described the company’s cost-cutting measures as “disastrous” for workers.

Tensions at Ubisoft have reportedly reached a breaking point, with more employees calling for a mass quit. Employees across multiple studios have been voicing their anger at senior leaders after a major restructuring announced in January 2026. Many are already making plans to leave, and internal communication channels have become forums for staff to air their frustrations in public.

Internal Criticism Breaks Industry Norms

Ubisoft employees are reportedly skipping the usual HR channels and sharing their complaints directly on company-wide platforms visible to management. Their bold, public pushback is rare at a company of this size. This underscores just how deep the morale crisis runs within.

An Industry insider, Tom Henderson, described the restructuring of the company as the final breaking point. This is after years of inconsistent leadership and unclear project direction that employees put up with. Many of them have begun searching for new roles while still employed. This signals that a wave of resignations may be imminent in the future.

What Fueled Developer Frustration

The six canceled projects are the major source of aggravation for the developers. The long-delayed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake, which consumed more than 5 years of development before the project was abruptly halted in progress. Entire teams now face uncertainty with what happened. With no releases and no defined next steps, they were left in the dark.

Reports indicate that one of the canceled titles targeted mobile platforms. Meanwhile, the four others were never announced publicly. These decisions followed the shift to five Creative Houses. It begins with the Vantage Studios that oversees key franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six.

While Tencent invested €1.2 billion in late 2025, this reduced short-term financial pressure and gave it a 26% stake in Vantage Studios. However, this deal between them did little to ease employee concerns about their long-term stability and creative direction.

The Decision That Sparks Union Action

The setting of a new rule requiring everyone to work in the office five days a week has only increased the backlash. A lot of the employees see this policy as a “soft layoff” tactic. This move is meant to encourage people to quit without severance pay. 

Their views on the company’s move align with a 2024 BambooHR study. It is found that some executives use these return-to-office rules to get employees to leave on their own.

Meanwhile, the French gaming union Solidaires Informatique called the policy “disastrous” and organized a strike on January 22. The Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) also joined the protest to stand with the employees. They are asking for an end to layoffs, the option to keep working remotely, and real pay increases.

Company’s Financial Struggles

In addition, the company’s stock is trading near 15-year lows. This increases borrowing costs and weakens long-term equity compensation incentives. Unfortunately, the unrest in the workforce is happening during severe financial challenges. They have cut more than 3,500 jobs already and closed studios in Stockholm and Halifax. This is while they have been downsizing teams in Abu Dhabi since 2022.

Analysts believe up to 2,400 more jobs could be cut by March 2028 as Ubisoft aims to save another €200 million. These predictions make employees worry that leaders are only addressing surface issues rather than the deeper problems behind the company’s decline.

Final Thoughts

30The internal crisis is now about more than just the cancelled games or delays that happened for the past few months. Ubisoft employees are already planning for a mass quit. The company faces a turning point as their own employee trust fades, unions take action, and experienced developers prepare to leave.