Reports this morning have broken that say massive, global video games publisher, Ubisoft, is shuttering two of its studios, Ubisoft Winnipeg and Ubisoft Belgrade, and “restructuring” further offices, including Ubisoft Barcelona.
The Winnipeg and Belgrade studios have a long history with the company, having collectively worked across many of its biggest franchises like Assassin’s Creed, The Crew, Skull & Bones, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and Far Cry, and worked across multiple internal engines such as Anvil and Snowdrop.
According to early reporting from Insider Gaming, the Ubisoft Belgrade closure has resulted in a definitive layoff of all employees, which is around 100 jobs lost. Winnipeg’s doors closing reportedly amounts to around 65 workers from the studio sacked.
Following this, further reports have emerged which suggest that this round of layoffs goes beyond even these two studios, with sites like IGN reporting that up to 380 positions within Ubisoft could be impacted by this latest “organisational change.”
“This decision is part of Ubisoft’s broader efforts to reduce costs, strengthen the business over the long term and better align resources with its priorities. It also reflects adjustments to the level of activity following recent portfolio reviews,” an Ubisoft spokesperson told The Montreal Gazette in response to the Ubisoft Winnipeg closure.
An internal memo from Ubisoft management that’s circulating reportedly reads, “Over the past months, Ubisoft has been evolving its organization to simplify how it operates, reduce its cost base, and strengthen the company for the long term. These decisions also reflect adjustments to the level of activity following recent portfolio reviews.”
Ubisoft has spent a good portion of this year enacting sweeping changes to its business structure as it attempts to broach what it calls a “persistently more selective and competitive” AAA industry where the risk of rising development costs and challenges of branding are met with the potential for huge financial return when a AAA project is successful. It is, in turn, shifting its focus toward two core pillars of Open World Adventure and GaaS (Games as a Service).
In that effort, it’s split the wider company up into distinct, integrated Creative Houses and revised its 3-year roadmap, changes which have contributed to these ongoing studio closures and layoffs.
This latest round comes as the company has been heavily marketing remakes of two of its legacy successes – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Rayman Legends.