GamesIndustry reports that unions for Ubisoft's Barcelona studio, which has groups for establishing mobile video games and supporting Rainbow Six Siege, submitted a claim versus the French publisher in October over its questionable return-to-office (RTO) required throughout all its worldwide studios.
Ubisoft initially revealed its RTO policy in September, which requires workers to work in-person for 3 days a week. The modification was soft-launched at its Montreal workplace in 2015 and was dissentious, with numerous Montreal employees feeling management went back on remote work pledges made throughout the height of the COVID pandemic.
The unions are teaming with Spain's labor group Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) to require Ubisoft reverse the RTO policy, and goal to protect defenses for Barcelona personnel to continue remote work under a cumulative contract.
In an e-mail to GamesIndustry, the unions declared that previous to submitting the suit, management did not approach them to work out, regardless of their determination to deal. They even more declare the RTO option was made “all of a sudden and without openness,” and would cause logistical issues as an outcome of the increase of returning employees.
Given that September, designers from Ubisoft's different France-based studios have actually gone on strike, with support from the French video game union STJV. In mid-October, Ubisoft Milan workers likewise went on strike, and voiced worries about RTO possibly requiring them to give up.
Ubisoft Barcelona is the very first studio to take legal action against over the RTO policy, and marks the most recent string of claims to strike Ubisoft this year. Previously in November, a set of California gamers took legal action against the publisher for unceremoniously delisting The Crew back in March. And in October, a different set of gamers took the business to court for supposedly sharing user information with Meta through its account connecting system.
Video game Developer has actually connected to Ubisoft relating to the suit, and will upgrade when a reaction is provided.
About the Author
Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com
A Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has actually composed for various websites consisting of IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be discovered at io9 over on Gizmodo. Do not ask him about just how much gum he's had, due to the fact that the response will be more than he's ready to confess.
