People quitting their jobs in search of more fulfilling careers really isn't all that uncommon here in late 2021. We have seen it across multiple industries and workplaces as workers start to realize that they're worth more than the bare minimum many employers offer them.
And while this is happening within the gaming industry as well, it seems to be happening at a much higher rate at Ubisoft. A new report from Axios says that the major studio has seen "massive departures" taking place over the last 18 months. These departures come from all levels of the studio, from low-level employees to even some in management roles.
For instance, five of the top 25 credited employees that worked on Far Cry 6 are now gone. 12 of the top 50 credited employees that worked on Assassin's Creed: Valhalla are also now gone. Two employees that remained at Ubisoft have said that these departures are now slowing development on their current projects. According to LinkedIn, Ubisoft's Montreal and Toronto studios saw roughly 60 employees leave just within the past six months.
Current and former employees of Ubisoft cited a number of reasons for these departures. There is an issue of low pay for a lot of them. There is also a lot of frustration with creative direction, and issues with management doing the "bare minimum." Of course, a lot of employees were also frustrated at the lack of any sort of rectifying action when it comes to the company's still ongoing issues with sexual misconduct and toxic behavior. The ongoing issues at the studio have made employees ripe for the picking by recruiters.
Ubisoft told Axios that their attrition rate, currently around 12%, is a "few percentage points above where it typically is." This is in comparison to the 16% at Activision Blizzard, 8% for Take-Two, and 7% for Epic Games. The average rate for the entire industry back in January 2020 was 15.5%.
The company also says that they have hired 2,600 new employees since April. The latest news from Ubisoft isn't about how they're going to fix their toxic culture, but rather that they are working on a new Splinter Cell remake. This announcement could push talent to be brought on or retained at Ubisoft.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot also recently held a meeting, not to address workplace concerns, but to say that the company's NFT push is "just the beginning" of their push into the metaverse. Thus far, Ubisoft's NFTs have made a grand total of $400 with only 15 sales in total having taken place.
