Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is taking a pay cut

The executive is forgoing about a third of his annual compensation

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is taking a pay cut of about a third of his annual compensation for the coming year. The slash underscores how Ubisoft seems to be going through some hard times.

According to an Ubisoft filing reported on by Axios, Guillemot will forgo about €310,607 (or roughly $327,000) he would have received over the next year.

This particular amount was linked to both Ubisoft’s financial performance and the execution of its reforms, meant to address the company’s misconduct scandals that arose in 2020.

“This is a personal decision by Yves Guillemot, which he took considering that the company had not reached the financial targets that it had publicly communicated to the markets,” an Ubisoft representative told Axios.

Sailing through rough waters

Ubisoft has been in some hot water for a while. Last year, employee turnover was reportedly unusually high. And an open petition last November called for leadership to meet workers’ demands for fundamental change at the company.

Even on the game release front, Ubisoft has been having some trouble. Ghost Recon Breakpoint feels like it was the start of it, failing to meet expectations for the shooter series. The Prince of Persia remake was quietly moved to a new release window. And Roller Champions finally went live to surprisingly little fanfare.

This pay cut underscores the tough times Ubisoft is navigating at the moment. The company has a few games on the docket, like Avatar and Skull & Bones, though its launch calendar for those isn’t clear yet.