Ubisoft Montreal Lead Fired After Critical Comments on New Return-to-Office Mandate

Ubisoft, like most major triple-A publishers and developers, gets its fair share of criticism, and since the company announced a "major reset" last month, it's been getting far more than its fair share. The reset saw it cancel the long-awaited Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake, among other projects, while others were delayed, and the company confirmed that there would not only be more layoffs coming, but it would end its remote work policies, instituting a return-to-office mandate.

All of this, including the introduction of a voluntary layoff program at Ubisoft's headquarters in Paris, has sparked heavy criticism from those outside of the company, and even those internally, including from Ubisoft Montreal team lead David Michaud-Cromp. Michaud-Cromp directly criticized the return-to-office mandate on his personal LinkedIn account shortly after it was announced.

"So... Ubisoft wanna bring back 5 days in the office... because they 'believe in collaboration'... but c'mon, we're not completely stupid... we very well know why you want to go back to 5 days in the office...(Spoiler alert: it's not about efficiency or collaboration)," Michaud-Cromp wrote.

Not too long after that post, he shared that he was put on a three-day unpaid disciplinary suspension, writing, "The measure was presented to me 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."

Now, Michaud-Cromp confirmed in yet another post on his LinkedIn account that he had been fired from Ubisoft. "Today, I was terminated by Ubisoft, effective immediately. This was not my decision. I won’t be discussing internal details or circumstances. I’m taking time to regroup and will share next steps when appropriate."

When Wccftech reached out to Ubisoft for a comment on the situation, a representative gave the following statement:

"Sharing feedback or opinions respectfully does not lead to a dismissal. 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. We won't comment further."

With Michaud-Cromp and Ubisoft unwilling and unable to go into the details of his termination, we'll likely never know what about his comments crossed a line, or if something was said internally during his discussions with management that also impacted his termination.

What we do know is that Michaud-Cromp is an advocate for work environments with strong communication between team members, whether they're remote, in-office, or a hybrid. Speaking to Kotaku, Michaud-Cromp said, "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."

When Ubisoft announced the return-to-office mandate, it claimed it was "to strengthen collaboration, including constant knowledge sharing, and the collective dynamic across teams. In-person collaboration is a key enabler of collective efficiency, creativity, and success in a persistently more selective AAA market."

The new mandatory RTO and the layoffs already confirmed at multiple Ubisoft locations, including ones at the Paris branch, have already sparked demonstration responses from unions and Ubisoft employees, with unions representing Ubisoft workers in Paris calling for a company-wide strike set to take place next week, and a rally that was held in Halifax last week in response to the Ubisoft Halifax closure.

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