Ubisoft Paris, the developer of the Just Dance series, is said to have caught a culture of crisis, a new report says. Report from NMEand includes an investigation of the French developer, with quotes from anonymous developers at Ubisoft.
According to Ubisoft developers, the tool for Just jump 2023 had to change 11 months before the game was shipped. This causes great difficulties internally as employees try to learn new motivations. One source said some team members can “learn quickly”, which causes management to “add more and more features”, resulting in a greater workload. Ubisoft seems to still be undecided on a production engine nine months before the production cycle ends.
Overtime became the norm during the production of Just Dance 2023, according to Ubisoft sources. “During daily meetings, some employees are clearly encouraged to work overtime,” the developer said. This developer says they worked 13-hour shifts, with QA testers typically working up to 15 hours per day. Some employees are said to have worked even longer.
The developers also called the game’s pre-production a “mess”, as management would force ideas “to be considered at all costs.”
“Once the creative vision is clear, it is presented to technical experts and is often ‘unattainable’,” said one source. “Either they have no choice but to achieve the impossible, or we are forced to change things. This is morally and physically exhausting for employees.”
The developers seemed to want to delay Just Dance 2023, but management refused, insisting that it was necessary to get the game out before Christmas.
One source said to their knowledge, “every project at Ubi Paris [is] influenced by a culture of crisis.”
Ubisoft declined to comment on the report when asked by GameSpot.
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