Ubisoft Barcelona Staff Walk Out Over Impending Layoffs
Despite the stellar commercial performance of the recently released Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, staff at Ubisoft Barcelona are taking a stand against job cuts. The studio, which played a pivotal role in developing the game’s underwater mechanics and technical infrastructure, is facing the termination of 51 employees. In a bid to challenge these redundancies, workers represented by the Coordinadora Sindical del Videojuego (CSVI) union have initiated a strike scheduled to run through July 16.
The labor action aims to force management back to the negotiating table. Among the union’s primary demands are the immediate reversal of the layoff decisions, the reinstatement of a 60 percent remote work policy, the fulfillment of overdue promotions and salary adjustments, and a tangible commitment to long-term job stability.
This is not the first time the Barcelona team has mobilized; in February of last year, they participated in wider industrial action protesting the closure of three global Ubisoft offices and the termination of over 500 roles company-wide.
In a public statement regarding the current standoff, the CSVI union expressed deep frustration: “Despite the title’s market success, 51 of our colleagues are being discarded. The company is citing a ‘strategic shift’ as justification, yet after years of loyalty and hard work, we feel abandoned. Our labor has generated immense value, yet our reward is the loss of our livelihoods.”
The irony of these cuts is highlighted by the massive success of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. Since its launch on July 9, the game has moved 2 million copies and achieved a record-breaking concurrent player count of 99,451 on Steam, the highest in the franchise’s history. These figures underscore a troubling trend within the industry: whether a project falters or thrives, developers remain uniquely vulnerable to downsizing.
Our thoughts at the editorial team remain with all those impacted by these distressing developments.
