There has been a major shakeup in Don’t Nod, the developer behind popular titles like Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Jusant, and Life is Strange. The official announcement from the company on Monday, March 4, 2024, shows that former deputy general manager Benoît Gisbert Mora will depart the company to focus on “professional projects”.
“I sincerely thank Benoît for his contribution to the development of DON’T NOD over the last 7 years,” said Oskar Guilbert, CEO of DON’T NOD in reaction to Mora’s departure. “Benoît played an important role in making the studio what it is today by actively contributing to its financing, structuring, and development.”
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“His team spirit and total commitment have already ensured a perfect transition within the Administrative and Financial Department since last fall. We understand and respect his choice to begin a new chapter in his brilliant professional career and wish him great success in his future projects.”
It was also said that the company is looking for ways to strengthen its management committee to “support the implementation of its development strategy” targeted at its “AA creative fundamentals with high added value (Action-RPG, Action Adventure, and Narrative Adventure)”. The company also plans to restructure its business model to balance between self-publishing and co-production.
“I would like to express my gratitude to Oskar for these 7 wonderful years spent within the Group,” said Mora, “and to thank all those who supported me and helped me progress throughout what will remain as a strong professional experience and an extraordinary human adventure”.
Don’t Nod has 2 studios across Paris and Montreal with over 300 employees. The company has 8 upcoming projects and is currently recruiting to fill vacancies across different development departments. Most of their positions are open to remote workers. Check all open positions here.
Don’t Nod was called out by the French workers union over employee welfare concerns
Last month, the French Video Game Workers Union (Syndicat des Travailleurs du Jeu Vidéo or STJV) called out Don’t Nod in a post titled “Don’t Nod: Ascent or free fall?” where they expressed concern about the studio’s capability to handle all the games it has in the pipeline without undermining worker’s welfare.
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STJV said that Don’t Nod presented “activity up 10.3%” in its H1 2023 financial report, “and a pipeline of 8 games in production”. According to the French gaming union, the company may not be capable of managing “these multiple parallel productions” citing that:
- deadlines change very frequently
- the information and instructions given to the teams are contradictory
- employees are moved from one team to another without having a long-term vision on projects
- a grueling reorganization, which took more than a year to put in place, left entire teams in the lurch.
“In a studio where productions follow one another in ambient chaos, the time and long-term vision necessary for quality of life disappear, leading to more stress among employees and provoking boreout/burnout situations, placing us all in anticipation of decisions taken by management,” STJV said.
“The STJV is concerned about the psycho-social risks that await studio workers, given the significant number of situations of unhappiness and work stoppages that have been reported to us.”
The STJV referenced a 2023 Quality of Life at Work survey conducted by the company in which at least two-thirds of the employees responded. Although the French gaming union noted that the survey did not include any point about quality of life and working conditions, it showed how the employees felt about the company’s management. In the results from the survey;
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- 28% say they do not receive recognition for their work
- 30% would discourage their acquaintances from applying to Don’t Nod
- 39% believe there is too much workload (or teams too small)
- 50% disapprove of the business strategy followed by management
The game union praised Don’t Nod for its “full-time teleworking” policy and “progressive editorial line” but said the studio needs to take steps to resolve all the issues they had identified as well as “listen to the legitimate concerns of its employees and its union section”.
