Ubisoft is facing a morale crisis. Gaming journalist Tom Henderson reported that the publisher’s internal communication channels have filled with employees openly criticizing upper management and demanding change.
Henderson—a well-sourced industry insider known for breaking news before official announcements, and founder of Insider Gaming—went further. He predicted Ubisoft will experience a “massive exodus of talent” that extends beyond any planned layoffs. The voluntary departures could hit harder than forced cuts.
The report paints a picture of a company where staff feel comfortable publicly calling out leadership decisions inside official work channels. That level of open dissent is rare in corporate settings and typically signals a breakdown in trust between workers and management.
Ubisoft operates dozens of studios worldwide and employs thousands of developers. When attrition happens unevenly—losing senior engineers, technical directors, or veteran producers—the damage multiplies. Games get delayed. Quality suffers. Teams scramble to fill knowledge gaps.
The gaming industry has been bleeding jobs since 2023. Major publishers have closed studios and canceled projects as companies recalibrate after pandemic-era expansion. But voluntary departures create a different problem. Companies can’t control who leaves or when.
Henderson’s timing matters. Ubisoft has spent years dealing with restructuring headlines, project cancellations, and strategic pivots. The company’s stock has struggled. Games like Skull and Bones faced repeated delays before underwhelming launches. Assassin’s Creed Shadows was pushed back. XDefiant shut down despite initial buzz.
Some industry observers have noted Ubisoft’s return-to-office mandates. Stricter attendance policies have become a pattern across tech and entertainment, with critics arguing they encourage resignations without triggering severance obligations. Whether that’s a factor here remains speculation.
Live-service games are especially vulnerable to talent loss. They require constant updates, bug fixes, and new content. Losing the people who built those systems creates operational risk.
If Henderson’s prediction proves accurate, Ubisoft faces a compounding problem. Planned layoffs already hurt morale and productivity. Add voluntary departures on top, and the publisher could lose control of its development pipeline just as it tries to stabilize.
