The Ubisoft Workers of Montreal Union has initiated a petition aimed at safeguarding a hybrid work arrangement for its members, and the campaign has already amassed more than three hundred signatures. The drive, which began on September 30, seeks to rally both Ubisoft staff and the broader community around the principle that employees should retain the flexibility to split their time between the office and remote locations. According to reporting by Game Developer, the union known as Game Workers Unite Montreal (GWU) rolled out the petition with a coordinated social‑media announcement that urged every Ubisoft Montreal employee to add their name to the list.
In the same message, the union asked supporters outside the company to spread the word within their own networks, encouraging a wider base of sign‑ups. The call to action emphasized personal outreach: workers were invited to approach colleagues during breaks or lunchtime, because the majority of the signatures have been collected in person rather than through an online form. The United Videogame Workers Union, which operates under the umbrella of the CWA (UVW‑CWA), publicly endorsed the petition. In its statement, UVW‑CWA praised the Ubisoft Montreal union for "leading the change in our collective struggle for dignified work and economic justice." The statement went on to list a range of employee groups that are adversely affected by blanket return‑to‑office policies: parents juggling childcare, staff members with disabilities, individuals who purchased homes far from the studio, expatriates who moved abroad to keep their jobs, and professionals who simply thrive in a remote environment.
UVW‑CWA argued that such policies are often imposed without meaningful input from the very workers who bear the consequences. "Return‑to‑office mandates are just one of many decisions made by management without consulting the workforce," the union wrote. "These decisions impose hidden costs on families, on people with special needs, and on anyone who has structured their lives around the flexibility that remote work provides. When companies slash costs and renege on prior agreements, they must be held accountable for the human toll of those choices." The background to the current dispute dates back to earlier this year, when Ubisoft announced a restructuring plan that introduced the concept of "Creative Houses"—a reorganization intended to streamline production pipelines and foster tighter collaboration among teams.
As part of that overhaul, Ubisoft instituted a return‑to‑office requirement that mandates employees be present in the studio five days a week, with only a limited, annually‑allocated number of work‑from‑home days permitted. The policy was presented as a means to boost onsite collaboration, which senior executives claim is essential for creativity, efficiency, and the overall success of high‑budget AAA titles.
Marie‑Sophie de Waubert, Ubisoft’s senior vice‑president of studio operations, explained the rationale to GamesIndustry.biz: "We really want to strengthen onsite collaboration, the collective dynamic across teams. We know that in‑person collaboration and interactions are key enablers of efficiency, creativity, and collective success in this persistently selective market.
It's one enabler among others, but it's really one we believe in." She added that the company would eventually discuss the specifics of the new model with each country’s local context, noting that the ultimate goal is to improve the quality of the games and the creative output of the studios. Chief Financial Officer Frederick Duguet echoed a similar sentiment, emphasizing that the changes are intended to "boost the collective performance for AAAs." He assured employees and their representatives that the company would continue dialogue about the implementation details, but framed the shift as a strategic move to keep Ubisoft competitive in a market where development cycles are increasingly demanding. The tension between management’s push for a full‑time office presence and employees’ desire for flexibility is not new at Ubisoft. In February of this year, the studio experienced a three‑day international strike in direct response to the restructuring and the newly imposed return‑to‑office mandate.
At least 1,200 workers participated, according to Marc Rutschlé, a representative of the Solidaires Informatique union at Ubisoft Paris, who confirmed the figures to GamesIndustry.biz. Ubisoft later released a statement indicating that 528 staff members had formally reported themselves as being on strike during that period.
The current petition builds on that legacy of organized resistance. By encouraging staff to sign during break periods and by leveraging personal networks for broader outreach, the union hopes to demonstrate a clear, quantifiable level of employee opposition to the mandatory five‑day office schedule.
The petition’s growth beyond 300 signatures within just a few days signals a substantial level of concern among the workforce. Beyond the immediate demands for a hybrid model, the union’s broader agenda includes calls for greater transparency in decision‑making, the reinstatement of previously negotiated remote‑work allowances, and assurances that future policy shifts will involve genuine consultation with staff representatives. The union argues that a hybrid approach—where employees can choose to work from home a set number of days each week—offers a compromise that preserves the collaborative benefits of in‑person interaction while respecting the personal circumstances of a diverse workforce. Industry observers note that Ubisoft is not alone in grappling with the post‑pandemic work‑place paradigm.
Many game development studios worldwide have been wrestling with similar debates, balancing the perceived creative advantages of co‑location against the proven productivity gains and employee satisfaction associated with remote work. The outcome of Ubisoft’s internal dispute could set a precedent for how large, multinational studios negotiate work‑style policies in the years to come. In summary, the Ubisoft Workers of Montreal Union’s petition to preserve hybrid work has quickly gathered over three hundred signatures, reflecting widespread employee unease with the company’s recent return‑to‑office mandate.
Supported by the United Videogame Workers Union, the campaign underscores broader concerns about managerial decisions made without adequate worker input, the impact on various employee demographics, and the need for a more flexible, inclusive approach to modern game development. The unfolding dialogue between Ubisoft’s leadership and its staff will likely shape not only the future of the Montreal studio but also influence industry‑wide standards for work‑life balance in the creative tech sector.