Employees at Ubisoft Barcelona have announced a series of strikes. The official statement was released through the Coordination Committee of Video Game Industry Unions.
The protest comes in response to management's decision to lay off 51 employees as part of an ongoing restructuring process. The cuts represent approximately 28% of the Spanish studio's total workforce. The strikes will take place every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from June 30 to July 16, resulting in a total of six strike actions over a three-week period.
The studio's employees have presented management with five key demands:
- Workforce protection mandate: Mandatory negotiations aimed at guaranteeing jobs for all 51 employees currently affected by the layoffs.
- Protection against future layoffs: A firm commitment from Ubisoft not to initiate any collective redundancy processes for at least the next five years.
- Implementation of suspended salary increases: The immediate enforcement of previously agreed internal salary increases that the company allegedly suspended unilaterally.
- Restoration of remote work: The unconditional return of a work model allowing employees to work remotely for up to 60% of their monthly working hours in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
- Career development agreement: The reopening and formal review of plans aimed at improving salaries, as well as the employee benefits package.
The current layoffs in Barcelona are part of Ubisoft's broader cost-cutting and restructuring efforts. This latest wave of optimization has already resulted in the complete closure of Ubisoft Winnipeg and Ubisoft Belgrade, with the total number of affected employees across these restructuring measures reaching approximately 380.
As a reminder, June 30 will be an important day for Destiny 2 players due to a new update and the return of Iron Banner.