Ubisoft is a studio associated with iconic franchises like Assasin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, Far Cry, Ghost Recon, et cetera. Recently, layoffs have been a trend for many industries, and the video game industry is no exception.
The year 2023 has been devastating for game studios and their workforce, including some of the biggest ones, like Ascendant Studios, Crystal Dynamics, Blizzard, Epic Games, and Naughty Dog and Telltale Games.
The latest addition to the list above is the French video game company Ubisoft, which has laid off 100 employees following a restructuring scheme. A recent restructuring scheme was also implemented at Embracer Group, which led to its COO departing from the conglomerate.
Ubisoft’s Restructuring Scheme and the Layoffs That Follow It
Ubisoft has announced that it will be laying off 124 employees as a part of its latest corporate restructuring scheme. The layoff has affected employees who were part of the Visual Effects Studio, Hybride, and the Global IT team for Ubisoft. Hybride worked on projects like Ahsoka, Willow, and Aladdin.
The company also mentioned that every team within the company has been exploring ways to streamline operations. The entire statement reads:
Over the past few months, every team within Ubisoft has been exploring ways to streamline our operations and enhance our collective efficiency.
The statement further mentioned that the company has put a lot of deliberation and thought into the entire process.
Out of the 124 people the company has laid off, a majority, totaling 98, hail from Canada. This means that two percent of the company’s workforce from Canada has been laid off. The publisher reported the news to Kotaku and stated that:
Ubisoft is proceeding with a collective dismissal in its Montreal establishment within the framework of a reorganization of its production support services across Canada…
The studio further stated,
by consolidating these functions Canada wide, Ubisoft will be able to optimize its resources to be more sustainable in the long term
This was mentioned in the company’s notice to the government of Quebec, and it shared a copy with Kotaku. The studio also confirmed that there will be career assistance for the workforce that has been laid off. The company confirmed that the layoff will not affect the production teams. Reassuring and mentioning the support the company will extend, it wrote that:
These are not decisions taken lightly and we are providing comprehensive support for our colleagues who will be leaving Ubisoft during this transition
Ubisoft Montreal is the company’s biggest in-house developer studio, responsible for some of the most profitable titles. There were reports of turmoil within the studio concerning its hybrid return to office policy. Montreal employees also called the sudden change in remote work policies soft layoffs.
The French video game company had 20,729 employees across the globe in September 2022. As per the company’s latest expense report, the number was reduced to 19,410 in September 2023. This includes layoffs as well as not replacing employees who depart voluntarily.
Ubisoft’s Plans for the Future
Ubisoft has some titles in the pipeline scheduled for release. For example, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has a release date scheduled for December 2023. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is scheduled for January 2024.
There are also projects in development that do not have a scheduled release date. Star Wars: Outlaws has a FY 2024-25 release date window but not a fixed release date. Skull and Bones, a pirate-based game, has been in development for quite some time now.
It has already been delayed more than six times so far. The current window is Q4 2023-2024. This means that Skull and Bones could drop anywhere between the start of January and the concluding days of March.
There were also rumors of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag receiving a remake or a remaster. Assassin’s Creed Codename Red is also in the works. Despite everything the studio is experiencing lately, Ubisoft has established itself as one of the studios that has stood the test of time.
It will be interesting to see how the company’s restructuring strategy works.
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