“The message was clear: ‘make overtime’.”
Developers have spoken about the “morally and physically exhausting” crunch culture at Ubisoft Paris.
This was despite developers saying they were “already underwater” at this point.
“Either they have no choice but to achieve the impossible, or we are forced to change everything.
This is morally and physically exhausting for the employees.”
Several employees allegedly had to deal with “late” strategic decisions from those higher up in the company.
“During daily meetings, some employees were explicitly encouraged to work overtime,” they said.
“The message was clear: ‘make overtime’.”
The source added these calls for overtime were often communicated through “small meetings”.
Meanwhile, NME’s source claimed shyer members of the workforce were “spoken to by intimidating figures”.
“We [showed] them a realistic roadmap to realise this and they refused.”
Instead the developers were told: “Just Dancemust be under Christmas trees.”
This same source suggested the Just Dance 2023 team wasn’t given enough time to learn the new engine.
The report ended with some light, however.
Eurogamer has reached out to Ubisoft for further comment.
