If they're a bunch of professional game developers sitting in an office run by one of the industry's most famous developers/publishers and developing games, then how can they be said to be doing "independent" games?
From my experience of the game industry, it would be quite hard to do something that very much looks like a game project at a place like that, without also involving the normal planning/financing/sales/marketing requirements.
If it looks like a game project, in those circles it's probably going to be a game project, and there are rules for those. Just my thoughts.
> .. then how can they be said to be doing "independent" games?
They would still be doing the game/prototype independently from the company. There would be no difference in the making of the game from an "actual" indie dev.
Now for the IP, legal things surrounding it that's a different question.
* Vexed by crippling anxiety about whether you're going to be laid off
* Your schedule for next week is perpetually "well, I MIGHT be on a project and will no longer have time to complete my half finished game".
* Ubisoft would own the IP to your game anyway.
Then what's the point?
Added to which, this type of atmosphere sounds like the very last place that would be conducive to being creative.