Ubisoft employees in Europe began a three-day strike on February 10, 2026, calling for changes to the company’s return-to-office approach and raising alarms about what they describe as a renewed push to cut costs at workers’ expense. Demonstrations were most visible outside Ubisoft’s Paris offices, where attendees chanted, held signs, and, in a moment that quickly spread online, danced to retro-style music while standing in the rain.
Union representatives said more than 1,200 employees participated, framing the walkout as a response to a combination of workplace policy changes, wage frustration, and uncertainty created by a company-wide restructuring. Organizers argue that employees are being asked to accept tighter rules and heavier pressure after years of internal turbulence, while senior leadership remains insulated from accountability. They also point to pay growth they say has not kept pace with inflation or workload, and they want clearer commitments on job stability as Ubisoft pursues a new round of efficiencies.
The strike lands at a tense moment for one of gaming’s biggest publishers. In late January, Ubisoft announced a major organizational reset that reorganizes parts of the company into five “Creative Houses,” each responsible for portfolios that span development through commercial performance. The company described the shift as an attempt to move faster, focus its investments, and build a more sustainable operating model in an increasingly selective market for big-budget games.
That same reset included a significant reshaping of Ubisoft’s upcoming lineup. Ubisoft said it has discontinued six games, including Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake, along with four unannounced projects, three of which were described as new IP, plus a mobile title. Ubisoft also said it is allocating additional development time to seven games, including at least one unannounced title that was originally planned for a fiscal 2026 window and moved to fiscal 2027. The company positioned these changes as a quality-focused move, arguing that extending development schedules and cutting projects that do not meet revised criteria will help deliver stronger releases over the next several years.
Literally dancing in the rain
— Mando (@mrmandolino.itch.io) 10 de fevereiro de 2026 às 07:31
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Financial pressure is a major part of the backdrop. Ubisoft has described a more demanding environment for premium releases and a tougher competitive landscape in shooters, while emphasizing that standout AAA games can still generate enormous upside when they hit. Alongside the project changes, Ubisoft outlined an acceleration of its cost-reduction strategy. It said a fixed-cost savings program of at least 100 million euros is now expected to be fully achieved by March 2026, and it is defining a further phase targeting an additional 200 million euros of fixed-cost reduction over the next two years. Ubisoft also noted it continues to consider potential asset divestitures, a reminder that no options are entirely off the table as it tries to reset its trajectory.
Ubisoft’s studio footprint has already been affected. The company has cited closures and restructurings as part of its effort to align costs with priorities, including the closure of its Halifax mobile studio and its Stockholm studio, plus restructurings at locations including Abu Dhabi, RedLynx, and Massive. For employees, these moves contribute to a sense that the reorganization is not just a management reshuffle, it is also a signal that more teams could be at risk if projects slip or fail to meet new performance expectations.
At the center of the labor dispute is the return-to-office question. Unions argue that hybrid work arrangements have been negotiated over time and that some teams had agreements in place, but they say recent direction from leadership effectively rolls back those gains. The union framing is blunt: they see a push toward full-time on-site work as coercive, especially when paired with cost-cutting and job-reduction measures. Ubisoft leadership, meanwhile, has argued that in-person collaboration is important for building and shipping complex games, and that the company needs to change how it operates to stay competitive.
The tension around workplace speech and discipline has also intensified the debate. In Canada, a longtime Ubisoft Montreal developer, David Michaud-Cromp, publicly described receiving an unpaid disciplinary suspension connected to comments he made about the return-to-office policy, and he later said he was terminated. Ubisoft’s position, as reported in public coverage of the situation, is that employees can share feedback, but that violations of conduct standards can lead to disciplinary action. For workers watching from across Ubisoft’s global network, the episode has been cited as a cautionary example of how contentious the topic has become, and how quickly disputes can escalate.
Elsewhere in Canada, labor organizing has become part of Ubisoft’s recent story as well. A group of employees in Halifax unionized, and shortly afterward the studio was shut down, eliminating dozens of jobs. The union involved has challenged the timing and alleged the closure was connected to organizing efforts, while Ubisoft has said the decision was unrelated and driven by business realities. Regardless of where the truth lands in legal proceedings, the sequence has become a flashpoint in conversations about worker power in an industry where unionization remains uneven across regions.
More broadly, Ubisoft’s situation reflects pressures rippling across games. Even as the market remains massive, with billions of players worldwide and hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue, many publishers and developers have been reshaping teams, consolidating projects, and cutting back on risk. A major industry survey released around the start of 2025 found a large share of developers reporting that layoffs affected them or their colleagues, with restructuring and shifting market conditions among the most commonly cited explanations. The result is an industry that can be thriving in aggregate while still feeling unstable at the studio level.
For Ubisoft, the immediate question is whether the strike changes anything materially. Labor actions do not automatically rewrite corporate strategy, but they can force clearer communication, reopen negotiations, and increase the reputational cost of pushing through unpopular policies. They can also slow internal processes at exactly the wrong time, especially during periods when schedules are being renegotiated, teams are being reorganized, and leadership is trying to reassure investors and partners that the pipeline is under control.
Ubisoft says its reset is about reclaiming creative leadership and restoring sustainable growth. Employees on strike say they want stability, respect for negotiated working conditions, and leaders who share responsibility for the consequences of major strategic swings. As the walkout concludes on February 12, the bigger story may be what happens next: whether Ubisoft moves toward compromise on work policy and job security, or whether the company doubles down on a transformation plan that, for many workers, already feels like it is being implemented without them.
News story written by Mike.
