Developers at Don’t Nod – the team behind games like Jusant, Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden – will go on strike this Friday, November 8, 2024 in a response to the decision from management to layoff as many as 69 people.
After the aforementioned Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden failed to perform at the expectations Don’t Nod’s leadership had, the studio announced it would undergo a “reorganization project,” in which up to 69 jobs could be impacted.
However the developers don’t think this is the path forward, and reject the idea that they ought to take the hit for what they know to be mistakes made by leadership.
In an open letter spotted and translated by GamesIndustry.Biz, they don’t mince words, making it clear that they all saw the fallout to decisions they were forced to follow, and it was leadership’s fault for not listening.
“As workers at this company, we know that these failures are due to a succession of negligent acts and bad decisions from leadership. We have warned leadership about these failures for years, but are not being listened to. Ultimately, we’re the ones paying the price of these absurd decisions today, with the redundancy plan.”
The developers are striking in the hopes of achieving three key goals:
We demand that management immediately gives up on this irresponsible and unfair layoffs plan.
- We demand that the studio’s workers, who are the most competent people, have an actual say in all decision-making.
We demand the presence of Oskar Guilbert in the negotiations, and that he takes full responsibilities as CEO.
The strike was first called for last week, where the developers also said “This layoff plan is absurd, violent and will not save our company.”
Source – [GamesIndustry.Biz]