Don’t Nod workers are due to go on strike this Friday (November 8, 2024), following the announcement of the studio’s redundancy plan last month.
The picket line will be next to the studio’s HQ in Paris, union STJV announced, with the gathering due to start at 2pm.
Negotiations are ongoing following the announcement that 69 workers could be made redundant as a result of a reorganisation plan. Employees have a number of demands, which include:
- That Don’t Nod abandons the redundancy plan
- That employees have a voice in decision-making at the company
- That Don’t Nod CEO Oskar Guilbert be present at the negotiations
Don’t Nod workers also published an open letter about the issues at the studio, saying that leadership justified the redundancy plan on the economical context without looking at its own shortcomings and/or taking responsibility.
“As workers at this company, we know that these failures are due to a succession of negligent acts and bad decisions from leadership,” the letter read, as translated by GamesIndustry.biz. “We have warned leadership about these failures for years, but are not being listened to. Ultimately, we’re the ones paying the price of these absurd decisions today, with the redundancy plan.”
The letter went on to describe a strategy based on alleged “delusions of grandeur” leading to over-investing, as well as “short term thinking” at the company over the past few years. The document also highlighted that a lot of employees have left the company as a result of this situation, describing short-staffed teams and difficult work conditions.
“We want to save the company, but not at the price of unjustified redundancies or a deteriorated working environment,” the letter concluded.
Don’t Nod announced its redundancy plan on October 16, with the STJV then calling for collective action in response to the situation. It then issued a call for strike last week, saying that the “layoff plan is absurd, violent, and will not save [the] company.”
