To put it lightly, Ubisoft has not had a great start to 2026. They first shut down a studio shortly after it was unionized, their shares dropped by more than 35% because of a controversial restructure announcement, and today they’re facing severe backlash from French worker unions. After announcing the operational restructure, Ubisoft revealed that 200 roles would be cut from Ubisoft International, Paris.
According to the French union STVJ on Bluesky, a collaborative three day strike has been planned by Ubisoft workers associated with Ubisoft unions STJV, CFE-CGC, CGT, Printemps Ecologique, and Solidaires Informatiques. The opening statement kicks off with a strong complaint:
“On January 21, 2026, Yves Guillemot announced the end of remote work, closure of several studios, cancellation of projects, and a new 200€ million “cost-cutting” plan. We were informed of this at the same as the press, as none of these changes had been discussed during the mandatory consultations with the works council a few days earlier!”
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The joint unions are now calling for a “massive international strike” from February 10 to February 12, 2026.
— Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (@stjv.fr) 2026-01-28T12:10:47.000Z
Ubisoft : enough is enough! Faced with the arbitrary decision of the CEO who doesn’t even dare talking to employees anymore, unions are calling for a strike on February 10th, 11th and 12th.
These Workers Are Really Angry
I mean, of course they are. If what the statement is alleging is true, telling the union workers nothing about the layoffs when you just had a meeting with them a few days prior is horrific. The new organizational and operational structure at Ubisoft sees the closure of a lot of their studios, as they are now shifting to a leaner approach with a total of five “creative houses.”
The union statement highlights that they weren’t presented with any dialogue or respect. Here’s another powerful point raised in the same statement:
“The announced transformations claims to place games at the heart of its strategy, but without us, these games cannot exist.”
It looks like gamers aren’t the only ones frustrated with Ubisoft — even their employees are fed up with their practices. The union says that management can’t mistreat its employees and “do whatever they want, whether with public money or the work of hundreds of people.” It’s going to be a very, very long year for Ubisoft.
