Years go by and reports of problems in Ubisoft studios continue. The most recent one concerns Ubisoft San Francisco, the team responsible for developing a first-person shooter known as XDefiant, which has been under scrutiny for its silence, constant delays, and now reports of a toxic work culture.
XDefiant is a disaster due to its toxic and violent work culture
After an initial report by Insider-Gaming exposed the problems facing the development of XDefiant and its relationship with the project leaders' demand for it to resemble Call of Duty as much as possible, which was denied by its executive producer, new information has come to light, revealing what's happening inside the studio. According to testimonies from workers who chose to remain anonymous, XDefiant isn't progressing as expected due to the formation of a dominant group known as The Boys Club, comprised of developers who hold leadership positions.
It is mentioned that these workers lack experience in the areas they lead, as well as the ability to manage teams in a way that the development process has repeatedly fallen into the infamous crunch (exploitative labor practices). Additionally, the morale of the workers is reported to be low as they see that members of The Boys Club are not only incompetent but also because their positions were obtained without merit: "a member has no experience in design or experience with people and has been given directing powers due to personal friendships."
Ubisoft San Francisco under scrutiny for leaders' hostility towards employees
In parallel, there is mention of a development leader with a "never-before-seen" record of reports in Ubisoft's human resources department, yet apparently there is no punishment. In recent years, this has been a constant complaint within the French company as reports indicate that workers accused of violence, harassment, exploitation, and more are only transferred to other Ubisoft offices, not reprimanded.
In addition to the climate of exploitative labor practices and violence against workers, which has led to the departure of the workforce, there are also discussions about the lack of direction in the project and the inability to provide XDefiant with good network code, something that has not been achieved in years and is essential for an online multiplayer game.
Likewise, sources pointed out that the development leaders of XDefiant, The Boys Club, only focus on comparing the work of creatives with the current state of Call of Duty, creating a vicious circle where they are never satisfied because the game doesn't resemble the Activision shooter enough. In that sense, it is mentioned that on several occasions significant progress has been shown which initially pleases the leaders, but the next day they are compared to the military FPS and all that work falls apart.
So far, XDefiant will not meet its goal of releasing in the first quarter of 2024, but there is no new information about the release window.
Stay tuned here, at LEVEL UP.
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