Developers at Ubisoft Barcelona – which works on Rainbow Six: Siege following recent company restructuring – have gone on strike.
The reason for this workplace action is a selection of proposed layoffs from Ubisoft, which would impact 51 staff at the studio. Devs unhappy with this are demanding these staff not only keep their jobs, but that a job protection period of at least five years is established to avoid further layoffs.
To achieve this, developers are leaving work every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon between yesterday (30th June) up until the 17th July. This ongoing strike – organised by union La Confederación General del Trabajo – was announced in a bulletin sent to local media, and translated into English by Insider Gaming.
The demands also include an “unconditional” return to remote work model allowing for 60 percent of days to be spent away from the office, the approval of agreed internal promotions which have been “unilaterally paralysed” by the company, and a career development pact which would formally review pay rises and the workforce’s social benefit packages.
These cuts to staffing were announced earlier this year, and also came with some major restructuring across Ubisoft’s many studios. It was then that, in June, that Ubisoft Winnipeg and Ubisoft Belgrade were shuttered. At the same time, Ubisoft Barcelona was pivoted to a Rainbow Six: Siege-focused development studio.
As such, these strikes come at a time of great change and massive turmoil for the European gaming giant. Hopefully these strikes can send the right message and influence some positive change for the Barcelona team.
