- Ubisoft’s annual report highlights loss of key talent and skills as a high risk for the studio.
- Losing key developers affects its performance, reputation, goals, and share price.
- Despite this self-awareness, the company has fired thousands of developers in the last few years.
Ubisoft underwent a major resizing earlier this year, which saw hundreds of developers being fired, studio closures, and project cancellations. The company has laid off over 2000 employees from its various studios in the last three years, and more are yet to come.
The company’s annual report now puts ‘loss of key talent and skills’ as a high risk for the studio’s future. It argues that losing key staff can delay game development, hurt game quality, and make it harder to stay competitive.
Meanwhile, loss of attractiveness to key talent is listed as a moderate risk.
Why it matters: Ubisoft is in an awkward spot by accepting the importance of key talent while firing an average of a thousand employees annually in the last 4 years. A lack of experienced developers could result in many of the studio’s IPs declining over time.
Ubisoft explains in the report that not attracting and retaining talented developers could hurt its growth prospects. The company directly acknowledges its current layoff strategy contradicts its aspirations to find and retain talent.
the sudden departure of members of the games core teams could be damaging to the Group’s development.
-Ubisoft.
High turnover rates among senior developers are a major challenge, alongside insufficient training and an environment that fails to cultivate talent.
It realizes that the games industry requires talent with ‘rare and highly valued’ innovative skills in different fields to be ahead of the curve, such as AI, cloud gaming, and data management.
The Group’s success also depends on its teams’ know-how and skills in a highly competitive international market.
Therefore, the company has put a succession plan in place for executive officers, while also gradually implementing it for other roles like creative director, producer, and studio GM. The program will monitor commitment levels and compensation policies and promote leadership skills, knowledge sharing, and training.
Meanwhile, a ‘selective hiring and career advancement’ policy is also being explored to retain more key developers, alongside building a ‘welcoming, inclusive workplace’ to foster continuous learning.
Do you think Ubisoft will bounce back and hire experienced talent moving forward? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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