A former staffer at Ubisoft Osaka has spoken out in opposition to persistent “on-line conspiracy theories” that the corporate is just not affected by “huge enterprise syndrome” however quite that the writer’s efficiency is being affected by its give attention to DEI (variety, fairness and inclusion) initiatives.
Final week’s restructuring of the main firm, which noticed Ubisoft cancel six video games, shut two studios, and ensure layoffs at three extra places, has sparked a brand new wave of criticism on-line, with some commentators suggesting that Ubisoft is now in hassle following directions to extend DEI inside its video games.
Final 12 months’s Murderer’s Creed Shadows grew to become a lightning rod for controversy over the inclusion of Yasuke, the black samurai protagonist. Jasuke is a real-world historic determine whose prominence sparked a backlash in opposition to employees engaged on the challenge, forcing former Murderer’s Creed boss Marc-Alexis CΓ΄tΓ© to slam him.
Now, a employees member who beforehand labored on the just lately shuttered Ubisoft Osaka has supplied his perspective, suggesting that whereas the corporate’s DEI advocates have had restricted affect, “helpful” initiatives included “enhancing work environments, increasing markets to South America and the Center East, and so on.”
Writing in X and translated by Automaton, a former employees member blamed Ubisoft’s present issues on “huge enterprise syndrome”, the stagnation of latest concepts by risk-averse employees in senior positions.
Kensuke Shimoda, a former developer at Ubisoft Osaka, wrote, “The decline of the advertising/inventive division is because of giant firm syndrome. It may possibly occur to any giant firm.” βOne instance of that is the disproportionately low turnover charge and the obvious lack of senior/principal stage employees with expertise in growing on-line/cellular/F2P video games.
“Additionally, as a French-first firm, we established branches exterior of French-speaking nations and as we constructed a worldwide growth construction, we confronted administration challenges distinctive to non-English-speaking international corporations.”
Ubisoft declined to remark when contacted by videogameaddicted.
Ubisoft Osaka closed a 12 months in the past, affecting 134 employees members, together with Shimoda. Beforehand, the workforce labored as a help studio and contributed to the event of Shadows.
Lower than every week after saying a sweeping company restructuring, Ubisoft has proposed reducing about 200 jobs primarily based at its Paris headquarters. An actress realized on the web that she misplaced three years of labor after manufacturing of the “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” remake was canceled.
Tom Phillips is videogameaddicted’s information editor. You possibly can contact Tom at tom_phillips@videogameaddicted.com or discover him on Bluesky. @tomphillipseg.bsky.social