Whatever the future holds for Ubisoft, significant changes are underway. Around 185 roles have been made redundant, and the company's UK studio in Leamington will be permanently shuttered. The French company confirmed that European teams based in Düsseldorf, Stockholm, and Newcastle will be downsized. A small number of Leamington employees will remain under remote contracts.
In a statement provided to Eurogamer, Ubisoft said: "As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritise projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of the Ubisoft Leamington site."
It may sound callous, but with an absurdly bloated reported headcount of over 18,000 employees on Ubisoft's payroll as of 2024, we get the sense this round of layoffs is just the beginning for the firm in 2025. Regardless of how the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows performs, Ubisoft has repeatedly positioned itself to become a more appealing sales proposition.
To put the size of Ubisoft into perspective (and trot out our favourite comparison), Sony's PlayStation Studios, responsible for the kinds of lifelong fandoms that result in websites like Push Square, currently employs around 4,000 staff across its first-party family of developers, and even that might be too many.
Do you think we will see more layoffs at Ubisoft this year? How many millions of copies of Assassin's Creed Shadows will it take to save the company? Put all of your eggs into a single basket in the comments section below.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 14
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Cuts from the low, but not the top.
Good thing all the major decisions come from below and not the top🙄🙄🙄🙄
Shadows will flop, Ubisoft will get bought out, and most will lose their jobs.
Taking bets on when Ubisoft as a whole gets shuttered/sold/broken up!
I wouldn't say it was bloated since Ubisoft literally does everything in-house which was a good cost-cutting measure 10 years ago when they were able to release 2-3 games and have additional content for another 2-3 (DLC etc) but not anymore when they struggle to get more than two games out in a year.
Was confused why there were only 3 comments here when there were like 30 when I posted earlier today only to realize that was on NL. 😩
They’re done for. Turn out the lights, the party’s over.
The layoffs will continue until morale improves.
Ubisoft is keep drinking kool aid by thinking about getting more money by fired the workers and shut down the developers.
Bad karma will bites Ubisoft.
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If Shadows doesn't succeed I think Ubisoft is doomed.
Sadly, layoffs will probably continue for years. Especially if they start relying on stupid AI for everything. But they will keep the overly paid, poor decision making idiots at the top.
I can see the logic behind how Ubisoft got into this position of having so many staff. It essentially decided it was going to minimise the extent to which it outsourced work, so hired people internationally to try and keep almost all stages of the game-production pipeline in-house. The risk in that approach is that you need to be a very well oiled machine so that deadlines are met and one stage of the pipeline can begin just as another is winding down and moving on to the next project. Interruptions leads to waste due to staff not having things to do. It requires a hell of a lot of co-ordination and planning.
With that in mind, the comparison with PS Studios may not be the most apt. Yes, it is less than a quarter of Ubisoft's headcount, but PS Studios will outsource work where they need to.
The amount of pressure on AC Shadows is borderline unfair. That said though, I think it's going to deliver. The game is looking really great!
It's sad to see these layoffs but let's face it. Ubisoft does employ a lot of people. It was bound to happen sooner or later. They just simply have too many people to make a profitable business. Hopefully these folks can land on their feet wherever they go from here.
Unfortunately lay offs always come in pair, expect to see this exact same post later on in the year.
I work in the film industry and we've just had seven people laid off and they gave the EXACT same reasoning: "Targeted Restructuring". Even though our profits are increasing year-on-year.
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