Ubisoft Lead Designer Terminated After Criticizing the Return-to-Office Policy

Reports suggest the criticism was not the primary reason for his dismissal, but rather a straw that broke the camel's back.

It seems that if there's one thing executives dislike more than ordinary criticism, it's criticism coming from their own employees – an underling daring to object to decisions that are, of course, always flawless because they're coming from the boss? Preposterous!

Finding that out firsthand is David Michaud-Cromp, the now-former Lead Level Designer at Ubisoft, who was terminated just days after openly criticizing Ubisoft's return-to-office policy.

Ubisoft

For context, the policy in question was announced by Ubisoft alongside a slate of other major reveals, such as the cancellation of six games, delays to seven more, the now-underway process of restructuring all of its IPs into "creative houses," more layoffs on the way, and so on. It's easy to see how, against all that noise, a small line about the studio intending to "return to five days per week on site for all teams" blurred into the background and went largely unnoticed by most.

Naturally, if there was anyone who would notice it, it was Ubisoft's own employees, with Michaud-Cromp being one of them. On LinkedIn, he shared his take on the policy, saying it had nothing to do with "efficiency or collaboration" and was instead driven by more self-centred reasons, suggesting via the video he linked that it ultimately came down to real estate concerns and the desire of the company's upper echelon to preserve a traditional hierarchy that remote work puts under pressure.

That, however, did not go over well with Ubisoft's higher-ups. After the LinkedIn post gained some traction, Michaud-Cromp was hit with a three-day unpaid disciplinary suspension, which he openly stated was presented to him "as being related to public comments I expressed regarding the company's return-to-office policy, and based on an alleged breach of the duty of loyalty."

His transparency in publicly disclosing the suspension was apparently not what the studio anticipated, as just three days after the suspension ended, David announced that he had been terminated altogether, opting not to discuss internal details or circumstances and stating only that the decision to part ways with Ubisoft was not his.

In a statement to the press regarding David's dismissal, Ubisoft neither explicitly confirmed nor denied that his comments were the cause, leaving the remark – intentionally or otherwise – open to multiple interpretations.

"Sharing feedback or opinions respectfully does not lead to a dismissal," the studio told Game Developer. "We have a clear Code of Conduct that outlines our shared expectations for working together safely and respectfully, which employees review and sign each year. When that is breached, our established procedures apply, including an escalation of measures depending on the nature, severity, and repetition of the breach."

Interestingly, after the termination started making headlines, Insider Gaming reported that the designer had previously criticized Ubisoft's CEO for putting his son in charge of Vantage Studios and slammed executives in general for "swimming in millions of dollars" while ordinary employees bore the consequences of their poor decisions – making it appear that Ubisoft's leadership had simply grown tired of David's ongoing criticism, with the return-to-office dispute serving only as the straw that broke the camel's back, rather than the primary reason for his dismissal.

As for Michaud-Cromp himself, the designer is planning to take time to regroup and share more about his future plans at a later date. In a separate statement to Kotaku, he addressed the work-from-office versus remote work debate, issuing remarks that could be seen as a subtle critique of Ubisoft's practices, but, as with the company's statement, you can interpret it however you wish:

"In my experience, whether remote or hybrid teams are effective has less to do with physical proximity and more to do with fundamentals like clarity of goals, trust, documentation, tooling, and communication practices. Teams that invest in those areas tend to function well regardless of location, while teams that struggle with them often face challenges even when fully co-located.

For me, the most productive environments, remote or in-person, are those where expectations are clear, collaboration is intentional, and policies are implemented thoughtfully rather than uniformly. That's especially important in creative fields like game development, where trust, stability, and long-term collaboration matter."

And what do you think about Michaud-Cromp's termination? In your opinion, were his comments harsh enough to warrant such a response? What's your take on the work-from-office versus remote work debate? Let us know down in the comments!

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