The future of Arkane must be the result of choices made by its workers
Today, as work on Blade is going fine, and that the level of quality of the game to be expected is on part with what Arkane has accustomed its players, workers have to face the harsh reality: our studio might get closed because, and only because, Microsoft decided to, even if that means sabotaging the game it funded
After we warned the press about the situation 2 weeks ago, Microsoft has deigned grant us an extra month for the process.This is a step forward, the proof that can do better, but it is far from enough.
STJV is today alerting on the risks our company is in, as well as the ones the workers are in: while the choice of getting ride of Arkane inflicted an insane amount of pressure to workers, due having to endure the strain of the production, the stress of the look for a buyer and the anxiety to see their job endangered all at once; the resources provided in the redundancy plan remain outrageously low. Even more when considering that the tech giant decided on its own and without any valid ground to destroy the life of hundreds of workers.
Microsoft chose to close Arkane.
Microsoft chose to justify the closure on economic reasons. But Microsoft is actually why those economic reasons even exist. Because after freezing hiring for 19 months, which artificially caused delay and additional cost, Microsoft now use those same delay and additional cost as a reason to close down the studio. And that is even before talking about financial ressources : how not to be a “cost centre” when our previous games, which combined have sold tenth of millions, aren’t anywhere to be found in the company results? Or how Arkane cash pool is always low as any remaining cash is systematically funneled to the group through a cash pooling mecanic. Even this closure itself is done against any financial logic, as closing Arkane today would probably be more expensive than finishing the game.
The truth is that Microsoft based its decision only on stone cold and inhuman logic, in which our lives, projects and dreams are voided, so we can better serve Microsoft’s short term financial goals. In the wake of thousands of yearly firings, studio closure to which you can now add the tenth of thousands of voluntary buyout offered by the company, the decision to close Arkane is solely the brutal application of a never-ending search for maximum profit optimization. Arkane is profitable. Just not profitable enough for Microsoft.
So indeed, Microsoft is responsible for the situation Arkane is in today. Microsoft is responsible for the situation the workers are in today. So Microsoft has to take full responsibility here and act accordingly.
Means on par with the stakes
Fortunately, French law gives Arkane Studios the opportunity to find a buyer. We are all convinced that there is a future for a studio like Arkane, with its 25-year history, its many successful games and a team whose talent is recognised internationally. We want our studio to live on and produce games, we want to finish Blade and release it to the players, as well as the many games the future holds for Arkane. This is our dearest wish.
But let’s not deny what we know is rea : we want a future for the studio that goes beyond Blade, not to continue no matter what the cost may be for the workers. If no solid offer is on the table, Arkane will have to close to its doors. Doing so would mean to let down 217 workers, 217 people with lives and hopes that would be crushed by this decision and thrown on the job market at a time where it is going through an unprecedented crisis. To those 217 people, you can add contractors, freelancers, technicians, etc. that allow our studio to operate on a daily basis. So, in addition to the developpers, hundreds of workers lifes are at risk.
So, when the company who decided that Arkane has to shut down is, according to many sources the most profitable in the world, with a net profit of more than 133 Billions of dollars in the past years, it would be the bare minimum to ensure that the redundancy plan offered by Microsoft is on part with their means. The terms proposed here are unacceptable in our view, and we will not allow the lives of Arkane Studios’ workers to be destroyed without the company paying a fair price. To this end, we demand:
- To give employees control over the decisions that shape their future:
- Go beyond the mandatory Work Council consultation, and actually give employees representative & unions a say in the discussion to choose a potential buyer.
- Setup a protection fund for employees on the level of the PSE compensation in case workers get fired for economic reasons by the buyer in 24 following months.
- Should Arkane close, to release funds commensurate with Microsoft’s status as a corporation, to make sure that the workers are compensated in line with the loss suffered :
- A redundancy payment of 200K€.
- Two years’ redeployment support funded by Microsoft.
- The introduction of shared resources for training and studio creation, with a residual bonus to enable all employees to look to the future with confidence.
- Compensation up to the redundancy payment for independant workers’ contract breach.