Ubisoft's recently announced "major reset" continues to ripple through the video game industry, and now it has led to what was arguably an inevitable point in this story, as French unions representing Ubisoft workers, namely Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du jeu Vidéo (STJV), Solidaires Informatique, la CFE-CGC, CGT, and Printemps écologique, have called for a strike in response to the recent layoffs, studio closures, and the proposed end to remote work policies under a return-to-office mandate.
The strike called by the French unions will be a three-day event, taking place on February 10, 11, and 12, with the unions calling for all Ubisoft workers worldwide to join them in the demonstration. It's also not the only demonstration planned, as the CWA Canada is set to hold a rally in Halifax this coming Thursday, January 29, 2026, in solidarity with the workers who were laid off when Ubisoft shut down its Halifax studio earlier this month.
"Enough is enough!" begins a collaborative statement from the STJV and the aforementioned French unions. "Faced with the arbitrary decision of the CEO who doesn't even dare talking to employees anymore, unions are calling for a strike on February 10th, 11th, and 12th."
The statement shared goes on to further call out Ubisoft's chief executive officer, Yves Guillemot, claiming that he and Ubisoft management are going back on a remote work policy deal that was in place since September 2025, and further calls out the company's top brass for not taking responsibility for their actions that have led to this major restructure. A fair point to make, since you might recall that Guillemot and the current Ubisoft leadership led the company to lose 95% of its total value in the last eight years.
"We are told about responsibilities, but those who wield this word so easily do not take any responsibility for the consequences of their catastrophic management, the latest result being the elimination of 200 jobs at Ubisoft's headquarters."
Prior to this strike call, earlier this week, French union Solidaires Informatique directly called out Guillemot for having "no knowledge or understanding of his company."
Ubisoft's "major reset" reorganized the company into five Creative Houses, with its various branching studios across the world put into at least one of the five houses, if they survived the restructure. Ubisoft claims the Halifax and Stockholm studio shutdowns were part of this restructure, as were layoffs announced last year at Massive Entertainment and RedLynx. We also know that the restructure is responsible for pushing out senior veteran talent at Ubisoft, with the company losing its lead on Assassin's Creed and The Division. The former is even suing Ubisoft for "constructive dismissal."
The reset also saw six projects get cancelled, including the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake and seven more delayed, reportedly including the Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Remake. In all of this mess, however, Beyond Good & Evil 2 survived, and is still in production, according to Ubisoft.
It's still early days as to how the dust will settle with this restructure. While French unions put pressure on Ubisoft in the company's home country, the CWA Canada continues to apply pressure to the Nova Scotia government and the Canadian public to carefully scrutinize the closure of the Halifax studio, pressure that has already resulted in Ubisoft reconsidering the severance package it would offer workers. The union has also kicked off a letter-writing campaign and published a timeline outlining why it believes the closure to be suspect, as the Nova Scotia Labour Board investigates.
Stay tuned to Wccftech for further reporting on the situation at Ubisoft as it develops.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
