Don’t Nod Union Says Nearly All Nonmanagerial Jobs Were Cut

By Priya Raman

Nearly all non-managerial jobs at French game developer Don’t Nod have been cut, according to an October 27 statement from unionized employees. The union gave no exact dismissal count or company headcount.

Members of the French game-industry union Le Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo issued the statement. They warned that Don’t Nod faced insolvency and layoffs, and accused management of practices they deemed illegal and said caused staff uncertainty and anxiety.

The developer, best known for the original Life Is Strange games, currently operates under a French financial safeguard intended to shield it from insolvency and the risk that it could no longer pay its debts.

What does the union say happened?

Management gave employees several financial scenarios for the near future, according to the statement. Both scenarios included redundancies. The worst projected Don’t Nod’s liquidation through 2026.

The union listed these cuts:

• All animators, character artists, concept artists and associate producers.
• Most environmental artists, sound designers, level designers, programmers, QA testers, HR staff and developers.
• Half of the game designers, or one in two posts.

The union wrote: “Management is extremely clearly going for heavily individualized targeting and hasn’t been shy about their intent to keep selected people in rather than jobs, which is illegal.”

It alleged that management was choosing specific people to keep rather than preserving roles. The statement also said management was betting on outsourcing to absorb work from dismissed employees. The union called that approach out of touch.

The statement offered no contractor names, affected outsourcing roles, locations or start date, leaving the scale of any replacement work unclear.

What supports the workplace-safety allegations?

For two years, employees lived with what the union described as living on the edge amid uncertainty and anxiety. Six workplace accidents occurred at Don’t Nod this year, according to the statement. A recent inquiry began into what the union called a serious and immediate danger.

The statement did not specify accident locations, causes, injuries or the inquiry’s scope. It also said management refused voluntary leave for employees willing to leave earlier. The union said: “They do not care about the damage it deals to employees’ health.”

What happens on November 3?

A government agency representing employees is scheduled to rule on November 3. The statement did not name the agency. Management then has 21 days, about three weeks, to decide on a plan. If the agency accepts the plan, employees could receive dismissal letters on November 25.

If the agency rejects it, management must return to the drawing board and improvise, according to the union, whose closing jab was that contingency planning was not management’s forte. No new dismissal date follows in the statement after a rejection.

What does this change for workers?

For Don’t Nod employees, the practical change is a dated risk of dismissal rather than a general warning about instability. If the November 3 ruling accepts the plan, the 21-day decision window makes November 25 possible. Workers who wanted earlier voluntary leave still allegedly have no agreed route out.

For prospective applicants, the statement provides no hiring count, salary benchmark, replacement vacancies or severance terms. It offers no national French labor-market data and does not establish a broader sector trend. The figures carry no starting headcount, exact dismissal total or revision history, so the job-loss scale cannot be calculated.

Auditors warned in a financial report that Don’t Nod could run out of cash as early as November. Its latest game, Aphelion, arrived earlier this year to middling reviews. The report concluded that Don’t Nod’s financial strains could put its next project in peril.

The next hard test comes November 3, when the employee agency rules; if management’s plan clears that decision, dismissal letters could follow as soon as November 25.