Ubisoft Takes Action Against Developer for Criticizing Return-to-Office Policy

A team lead at Ubisoft has reported being placed on a three-day unpaid suspension after publicly criticizing the company’s recent mandate requiring employees to return to the office full-time. David Michaud-Cromp stated that he was informed this action was due to “an alleged breach of the duty of loyalty.”

This news follows last week’s surprising announcement from Ubisoft, which included the cancellation of several games, such as the remake of *Prince of Persia: Sands of Time*, along with delays and a restructuring that would lead to the closure of more studios. As part of this new direction, all 15,000 employees were instructed to return to their local Ubisoft offices five days a week. Michaud-Cromp expressed his frustration on LinkedIn, stating, “So… Ubisoft wanna bring back 5 days in the office… because they ‘believe in collaboration’… but c’mon, we’re not completely stupid… we very well know why you want to go back to 5 days in the office… (Spoiler alert: it’s not about efficiency or collaboration).”

Michaud-Cromp is not alone in his dissent; many Ubisoft employees voiced their concerns on the company’s internal message board, especially since Parisian staff had recently negotiated to keep two work-from-home days each week.

Following his comments, Michaud-Cromp claims he faced disciplinary action. He shared on LinkedIn, “Professional update: Ubisoft informed me today of a three-day unpaid disciplinary suspension, effective tomorrow.” He noted that this was related to his public remarks about the return-to-office policy, along with the striking phrase, “and based on an alleged breach of the duty of loyalty.” He concluded by stating, “I am sharing this information for transparency purposes. I take note of the decision and will make no further comment at this time.”

Ubisoft’s latest strategy to address its ongoing decline involves a restructuring aimed at “simplifying” development through the creation of “creative houses,” which suggests further consolidation of its global teams and likely more job losses. The company’s announcement indicated that to support this new model, all teams would return to working on-site five days a week, supplemented by an annual allowance of work-from-home days. The rationale? “This evolution is intended to strengthen collaboration, including constant knowledge sharing, and the collective dynamic across teams.” However, many staff, including Michaud-Cromp, received this with skepticism, with one employee stating that the decision was made “with zero justification, zero documents, zero internal studies proving RTO increases productivity or morale, nothing.”

The pandemic demonstrated that flexible work arrangements could enhance productivity, yet many executives at large companies seem resistant to this realization. Ubisoft employees are clearly unhappy with the new directive and the looming threat of additional job cuts. Internal calls for a three-day strike by all employees in February have emerged from at least five unions representing Ubisoft workers.

Both Ubisoft and Michaud-Cromp have been contacted for further comments.