By now, even a casual on-looker into the game industry would be able to tell that Ubisoft has not been having a great time in the public eye the last few years.
Its chief executive officer Yves Guillemot has had an even worse time, you could say, though he’s not exactly without fault. A new report from Kotaku sheds further light on Guillemot’s latest blunder.
Recent comments from Guillemot have once again riled up developers at Ubisoft, to the point where they’ve even been called upon to strike at the end of this month.
Guillemot put it to developers that “the ball is in their court” in a recent address in an attempt to energize developers in their work. At the same time, Ubisoft cancelled three projects, and delayed Skull & Bones.
His words fell flat on an audience of employees who’ve been mistreated and unheard now for years. In a company-wide meeting and Q/A session, they were quick to take him to task.
“The ball is now in our court – for years it has been in your court, so why did you mishandle the ball so badly so we, the workers, have to fix it for you?” responded one developer.
Guillemot has responded to questions like these and others in the meeting by first apologizing for his words. “I heard your feedback and I’m sorry this was perceived that way.
When saying ‘the ball is in your court’ to deliver our lineup on time and at the expected level of quality, I wanted to convey the idea that more than ever I need your talent and energy to make it happen. This is a collective journey that starts of course with myself and with the leadership team to create the conditions for all of us to succeed together.”
According to the report not all employees were entirely convinced by Guillemot’s apology, an unsurprising notion, especially with the potential of layoffs at the publisher still looming overhead.
Another question raised by a Ubisoft developer read, “It appears that management is out of touch with games saying that we need to adapt to an ‘evolving industry’? Why are we chasing trends instead of setting them?”
Source – [Kotaku]