Ubisoft pulls the plug on freshly unionized Halifax studio

Ubisoft decided close up shop in Halifax less than a month after the studio's union was certified and before contract negotiations had a chance to start. The workers had joined CWA Canada Local 30111, Games & Media Guild Canada.

“It must be terrible for them to wake up and find out that their jobs are all of a sudden gone, especially after Christmas and the new year starting,” GMG president Ron Carroll told the Chronicle Herald in Halifax.

“Today’s news is devastating,” CWA Canada President Carmel Smyth said. “We will pursue every legal recourse to ensure that the rights of these workers are respected and not infringed in any way."

The company said the move was made to streamline operations and reduce costs.

"Our labour powers the stories, art, gameplay, and technology that define Ubisoft's success," the employees say in a mission statement on their website. "Our studio proudly reflects near-gender parity, a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and a culture of inclusion."

“We will be looking for Ubisoft to show us that this had nothing to do with the employees joining a union,” Smyth continued. “The workers, their families, the people of Nova Scotia, and all of us who love video games made in Canada, deserve nothing less.”