French sport studio Do not Nod has introduced plans for a “reorganization venture” that might outcome within the layoff of as much as 69 employees. The French union that represents Do not Nod employees, STJV (Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo), known as the plans “the climax of a sequence of catastrophic choices,” that it detailed in an announcement earlier this yr.
Whereas the plans are nonetheless being negotiated between Do not Nod and STJV, the union has a brand new assertion that denounces them solely and claims higher administration has ignored worker considerations for months.
“Staff’ representatives at Don’t Nod have been elevating alarms for greater than a yr in regards to the firm’s financial state of affairs, which is the rationale cited to justify the layoffs,” it writes.
“With this layoffs plan, they’re creating an environment of utmost violence. We’re calling on all employees at Don’t Nod to mobilize to save lots of their jobs and dealing situations.”
The STJV ends the assertion by evaluating the state of affairs at Do not Nod to Ubisoft, the place it just lately urged employees to hitch a three-day strike over a brand new return to workplace coverage. “Confronted with executives who’ve determined to mock their employees, a social motion just like the one at the moment occurring at Ubisoft is critical,” it says. “It’s as much as us to determine the required stability of energy to save lots of our jobs. We won’t pay for our bosses’ errors.”
Do not Nod had a 11% year-on-year decline in working income, based on its monetary outcomes for the primary half of the yr.
“Our half-year outcomes for 2024 replicate the financial underperformance of our newest launch, regardless of strong scores on Metacritic, in addition to the accounting influence of the selections we needed to take,” CEO Oskar Guilbert mentioned. “The preliminary efficiency help measures introduced final spring now not appear ample to take care of the corporate’s competitiveness.”
Do not Nod’s upcoming ’90s teen drama (with a touch of Yellowjackets) Misplaced Information: Bloom & Rage remains to be set to launch its first episode in February 2025. It looks as if lots of people are trying ahead to it, together with myself, however it is going to be below a number of stress to fulfill gross sales expectations. The standard of the sport won’t even matter, given Guilbert’s reference to current video games underperforming “regardless of strong scores.”
Our Jusant evaluate known as the sport “a 2023 standout,” and that sentiment gave the impression to be echoed by different reviewers. Judging by these opinions and the STJV’s assertion, it certain would not look like Do not Nod’s builders are accountable for the corporate’s “financial state of affairs.”
