LogInPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown developers are also there.
Image credit: Ubisoft | Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Three Ubisoft studios have joined the French game workers union STJV (Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo) on a strike. The company's Paris, Annecy, and Montpellier branches (the latter responsible for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown) were invited to follow after the negotiations over annual salary at Ubisoft failed.
"Despite the union's efforts to find an acceptable compromise, negotiations hit a wall," the union said (via GamesIndustry.biz). "In order to hit arbitrary cost reductions targets, management offered a budget dedicated to raises that would be lower than inflation for the second year in a row."
The situation is especially striking considering Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot recently said that the company's recent financial results were "well above expectations." One Ubisoft Paris worker explained that the management wants to save €200 million over the next two years among production costs, but the employees think that "the right way to make money is to make video games in the best possible conditions so they can be of the right quality."
"It's not by skimping on the workers who build them, or by saving on the tools they use, that you're going to make money in a capitalist context. Workers want to be proud of what they ship. And overall it's not by struggling to pay your rent or by working in poor conditions that you can work properly."
The strike isn't surprising as earlier, Insider Gaming revealed that morale at Ubisoft is "at an all-time low", and while Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was received favorably, it has around 300,000 players only and has brought about $15 million in revenue.
At the same time, Ubisoft defended Skull and Bones' $70 price tag, saying it's an "AAAA game."
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