Ubisoft CEO apologizes for appearing to blame workers for game delays

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Home News Ubisoft CEO apologizes for seeming to blame workers for game delays

“The ball is in your court”.

Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot has apologized after facing grilling from his employees in response to recent remarks that did not sit well with workers at all.

Ubisoft is facing financial difficulties and recently announced that it is canceling three unannounced games as it implements broader cost-cutting measures. But in an email to staff at the time, Guillemot told staff that “the ball is in your court”, which workers say shifted the blame. On Tuesday, a union branch of Ubisoft Paris also called for a strike in response to the CEO’s remarks.

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Ubisoft workers were fired up as words seemed to pile on the pressure. A question that was upvoted by colleagues, submitted in advance to the CEO via company communication channels, which was seen by Kotaku, sent back to him Guillemot’s words: “The ball is now in our camp – for years it has been in your camp, so why did you handle the ball so badly that we workers had to fix it for you?

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Guillemot started the meeting contrite and said, “I heard your comments and I’m sorry it came across that way,” according to unnamed sources cited by Kotaku. Addressing his commentary on the playground, the CEO said he wanted to convey that he needed the ‘talent and energy’ of his employees more than ever, but it started with himself and the direction to “create the conditions for us all to succeed together”.

Also present at the meeting was Ubisoft’s chief financial officer, Frederick Duget, who said that costs must be reduced and productivity must increase. The company’s director of human resources, Anika Grant, has responded to workers’ demands that Ubisoft Paris employees should strike, although none of the executives directly commented on the recent strike call. Grant rejected staff proposals for a four-day working week, while calls for inflation-in-line raises were also rejected due to the company’s current financial difficulties. It should be noted that Guillemot also stated that Ubisoft’s current balance sheet is “strong” as it has approximately €1.5 billion in cash.

The French games giant is clearly facing challenges, and with continued discontent among workers, the issues don’t yet appear to be resolved. In other recent Ubisoft news, it has been reported that the company is making too many games that don’t run well, and those in development lack polish.

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