Ubisoft has come up with a new way to avoid saying the word 'layoffs,' with a 'voluntary career transition program' offer that some employees won't be able to refuse
Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment, the developer of The Division games, Star Wars Outlaws, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, says it has "realigned" its teams and resources "to strengthen our roadmap, ensuring our continued focus on The Division franchise and the technologies, including Snowdrop and Ubisoft Connect, that power our games." And if you think that sounds like layoffs are coming, well, so do I, but it hasn't actually happened yet.
As exercises in corporate bafflegab go, this one is a doozy. Here's the whole thing from LinkedIn, so you can appreciate it fully:
As part of our ongoing evolution and long-term planning, we have recently realigned our teams and resources to strengthen our roadmap, ensuring our continued focus on The Division franchise and the technologies, including Snowdrop and Ubisoft Connect, that power our games.
To support this transition responsibly, we introduced a voluntary career transition program, giving eligible team members the opportunity to take their next career step on their own terms, supported by a comprehensive package that includes financial and career assistance.
Massive Entertainment remains fully committed to our roadmap and to creating great experiences for players around the world, including The Division 2, The Division 2: Survivors, The Division Resurgence, and The Division 3. These projects continue with strength, focus, and ambition, and we look forward to sharing more in the future.
Words like "voluntary" and "opportunity" suggest good, happy things, but companies don't generally release public statements like this when good, happy things are happening. I also can't help but think back to literally one week ago, when Ubisoft said it was "saddened" that Assassin's Creed boss Marc-Alexis Côté had "chosen to pursue a new path elsewhere"—24 hours before Côté said in no uncertain terms that he was forced out.
A report by Le Figaro (Google translated) says the "voluntary career transition program" will be open until December 15, and is aimed at employees who are currently waiting to be reassigned to new projects. The size of the reduction Ubisoft is hoping to make with this program wasn't specified.
So it's not layoffs, in the strictest sense, but the reaper is at the door, and it puts employees in a tough spot. They can take the buyout now and hope to be able to find new employment in an industry that's been absolutely decimated by cuts over the past few years—or they can hold onto their jobs (which they may very much enjoy), paycheques, and benefits packages, and risk being laid off with nothing at some point down the road—which, given the shakeup currently underway at Ubisoft (not to mention the general state of the game industry overall) seems a distinct possibility.
Massive isn't the only Ubisoft studio looking to make cuts. Ubisoft RedLynx, based in Helsinki, Finland, also announced a "restructuring proposal" today, "as part of Ubisoft’s global efforts to simplify, reduce costs, and ensure a stronger prioritization and efficiency across the company’s worldwide studio network." Redlynx said the restructuring proposal, if implemented, "would result in the reduction of maximum 60 positions."