An Assassin’s Creed Shadows developer has claimed that Ubisoft suspended him after he spoke out against the company’s recent return-to-office policy.
Level designer and 13-year veteran of Ubisoft Montreal David Michaud-Cromp made the claim on his LinkedIn page that Ubisoft placed him on a “three-day unpaid disciplinary suspension,” which was put to him “as being related to public comments I expressed regarding the company’s return-to-office policy, and based on an alleged breach of the duty of loyalty.”
Earlier in January, Ubisoft announced a drastic restructuring of the company including studio closures and game cancellations, as well as likely layoffs in the future. The video game publisher also pushed for a five-day return-to-office workweek. Now, one Ubisoft employee says he’s been punished for speaking out against that.
Michaud-Cromp’s comments about the return-to-office policy are still on his LinkedIn page,, where he wrote, “Ubisoft wanna bring back 5 days in the office… because they ‘believe in collaboration’ … But c’mon, we’re not completely stupid… We very well know why you want to go back to 5 days in the office.”
He followed that statement with a link to YouTuber Damon Cassidy’s video about the subject, which goes on at length about why return-to-office mandates are more about propping up office real estate prices and reestablishing direct oversight rather than done in the spirit of collaboration.
This comes at a time when Ubisoft workers are reportedly feeling “anger and despair” over the company’s new directives. Five Ubisoft unions have called for a strike in February and issued the following statement:
“We are not fooled: Rather than taking responsibility for layoff, they prefer to push us out by making our working conditions unbearable,” the statement reads. “It’s outrageous. Our colleagues carry on, hold fast, endure, out of solidarity, out of love for the industry, and out of passion. But enough is enough! It is because we love Ubisoft that this situation revolts us!”
GameSpot has reached out to Ubisoft for comment about this story.