Ubisoft Montreal lead David Michaud-Cromp has been fired just a few days after he was previously punished for publicly speaking out against the company’s plans to force all employees to return to the office.
Last month, Ubisoft ripped off the Band-Aid and announced a massive corporate shake-up as part of its Tencent-funded bailout. This restructuring led to multiple game cancellations, including the long-in-development Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake, as well as more layoffs. Another part of the plan was that Ubisoft wanted all employees to return to their local offices five days a week. As reported by Kotaku, many Ubisoft developers weren’t happy about this big change, including Ubisoft Montreal level design team lead Michaud-Cromp, who vented publicly on LinkedIn on January 23. Five days later, he posted on the site that he was being punished by Ubisoft for his comments and was given a three-day unpaid “disciplinary suspension.” And now, Michaud-Cromp tells Kotaku he’s been terminated from Ubisoft.
“Today, I was terminated by Ubisoft, effective immediately,” posted the developer on LinkedIn. “This was not my decision. I won’t be discussing internal details or circumstances. I’m taking time to regroup and will share next steps when appropriate.”
When asked about his termination, a Ubisoft spokesperson emailed Kotaku this statement:
“Sharing feedback or opinions respectfully does not lead to a dismissal. We have a clear Code of Conduct that outlines our shared expectations for working together safely and respectfully, which employees review and sign each year. When that is breached, our established procedures apply, including an escalation of measures depending on the nature, severity, and repetition of the breach.”
The benefits of working from home, according to Michaud-Cromp
Michaud-Cromp emailed Kotaku to confirm his termination and shared his thoughts on why he believes remote work can be a great way to make games and collaborate with others, explaining that it often lets less vocal teammates be more included, helps keep decisions cataloged and organized, and allows knowledge to build over time as people ask questions and get answers in public channels that can be referenced in the future. The dev was also clear that remote work isn’t a “universal solution” and that some activities like “brainstorming, onboarding, and mentoring” can benefit from being done in an office.
“In my experience,” explained Michaud-Cromp, “whether remote or hybrid teams are effective has less to do with physical proximity and more to do with fundamentals like clarity of goals, trust, documentation, tooling, and communication practices. Teams that invest in those areas tend to function well regardless of location, while teams that struggle with them often face challenges even when fully co-located.”
“For me, the most productive environments, remote or in-person, are those where expectations are clear, collaboration is intentional, and policies are implemented thoughtfully rather than uniformly. That’s especially important in creative fields like game development, where trust, stability, and long-term collaboration matter.”
Additional reporting by Ethan Gach
