Communications of the ACM
Inside Ubisoft's Unprecedented 'Exodus' of Developers
A dozen top developers of Ubisoft's 2020 hit, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, have left the company.
Credit: Push Square
Colleagues across Ubisoft have names for the procession of developers who have departed over the past 18 months: "the great exodus" and "the cut artery."
The wave of resignations impacting scores of industries this year has been felt acutely at Ubisoft, which at 20,000-plus employees has one of gaming's largest workforces.
Signs of the exits are abundant. At least five of the top 25-credited people from the company's biggest 2021 game, Far Cry 6, are already gone. Twelve of the top 50 from last year's biggest Ubisoft release, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, have left too.
One developer recently said a colleague currently at Ubisoft contacted them to solve an issue with a game, because no one was still there who knew the system.
Interviews with current and former Ubisoft developers cite a range of factors for the departures, including low pay, an abundance of competitive opportunities, frustration at the company's creative direction, and unease at Ubisoft's handling of a workplace misconduct scandal that flared in mid-2020.
From Axios
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