French game workers call sector-wide strike over layoffs and instability

French game workers planned a June 25 strike outside Quantic Dream’s Paris office, and the STJV union called the action “Summer Grève Fest” as layoffs and instability kept spreading across the sector. The union said more than 1,000 jobs had already been destroyed or were under threat and described the industry as facing its worst social crisis in more than 20 years.

The picket was set for 9:30 a.m. CEST, and STJV invited workers regardless of employer, status or location to join and organize. That broad call reflected how far the pressure had spread across French game development, with members at Ubisoft, Don’t Nod, Quantic Dream and Spiders all operating inside the same strained ecosystem.

STJV said the June 25 action followed its national strike on May 27, after a wave of closures, layoffs and liquidations hit the industry. The union’s list included Mi-Clos Studio, Starbreeze Paris, Microïds Studio Paris, Don’t Nod, Virtuos, Spiders, Nacon Tech, Unity Paris, Leikir Studio, Build a Rocket Boy France and LDLC VR Studio. It also named further threatened cuts at Ubisoft’s Saint-Mandé HQ, Cyanide, Big Bad Wolf, Kylotonn, Nacon, Quantic Dream, Eden Games and Midgar Studio.

Quantic Dream was the clearest focal point because STJV said the studio wanted to cut a fourth of its workforce. The company’s careers page says it has over 500 employees and operates from Paris and Montreal, which makes the proposed reduction a significant hit to a mid-sized studio with international obligations. For Nintendo teams that depend on European co-development, localization, QA or art support, that kind of instability can ripple into milestones, approvals and contract renewals long before a game reaches players.

Ubisoft’s latest annual results showed the same strain at larger scale. The company reported 16,590 employees at the end of March 2026, down by around 1,200 from a year earlier. For producers, business teams and external-partner managers, the message from France was straightforward: the talent base that supports major game production is still under pressure, and the disruption is now deep enough to affect planning well beyond Paris.