Here's an article with more about what's going on.

I'm a bit late to this because I have not heard one single thing about it, I only found out today because I was literally Googling Halifax for an unrelated reason.

And I don't know if I got across how utterly disgusted I am by this, because it is DISGUSTING. The employees who lost their jobs don't believe it was budget cuts, the CWA doesn't believe it was budget cuts, and I don't believe it was budget cuts.

I've seen how "budget cuts" normally go down in Triple A, and everyone sees them coming from miles away. Downsizing happens slowly-- employees are internally moved or let go in small batches, projects are transferred, sold, or announced to be ending, and nobody is surprised when the closure hits. I've never seen an entire studio get chopped with ZERO warning, with SEVENTY-ONE PEOPLE working there, with a substantial live service project that suddenly gets killed (AC: Rebellion). UH was not a small or dispensable studio.

UH was their first North American studio to unionize. This was 100% a retaliatory, union-busting move from Ubisoft-- they have ten other studios here, and they're scaring them away from doing the same thing. Stuff like this is more common in big corporations than most people want to believe. I've worked places where it was literally an inside joke that management will find a reason to fire you if you even say the word "union". It happens everywhere. Game devs are notoriously overworked and underpaid, and Ubisoft wants to keep it that way.

So, yeah. I am disgusted. Absolute SCUMBAG company. THEY LAID OFF 71 PEOPLE FOR UNIONIZING.

BOYCOTT. And make sure everybody knows why. Post it everywhere so Ubishit can't bury it.

And I hope the people who lost their jobs are doing alright. There isn't a huge industry for game development in Nova Scotia where it would be easy to find other work (not that you can easily find work in this industry point blank period), so I imagine they're all in a really brutal spot right now.

I put this post up on Instagram for more reach. Spread it there if you can, share on your story, even just like or comment to boost engagement, w/e. Anything helps. Because there's no way I'm shutting up about this. I am so beyond pissed off.

I'm going to Reddit and spamming Steam reviews next, because again, I have NOT seen this talked about anywhere. If anyone wants to beat me there or take it anywhere else that would be great.

I'm fucking sick of Triple A getting away with shit like this and the video game community doing nothing. THIS is why video games have gotten so bad. The industry is a corporate hellscape and they've been shitting all over their employees for years, the artists who are actually making the games we all care about. And we-- me, you, all of us-- just let it happen. This is why Triple A is only getting worse. I don't want to work in an industry where I will lose my job if I ask for better treatment.

#FuckUbisoft. Reopen Ubisoft Halifax.