Ubisoft had recently announced a massive restructuring process which has resulted in the cancellation of six projects, delay of seven upcoming games and even closures of two different studios. Ubisoft is currently shifting to it’s new ‘Creative Houses’ structure which will have all of the company’s IPs placed into five different categories across different genres and franchises. Also, each of the Creative Houses will have it’s own autonomous leadership structure which will helm development of brands and numerous other processes needed for all of the franchises.
And there will also be a ‘Creative Network’ of studios to supplement and boost all the Creative Houses, from providing technical support to all necessary development resources. According to Ubisoft, these fundamental level changes will result in faster game developments and all around better deployment of technical resources spanning all it’s studios.
But, all of this will be coming at a huge cost which may arrive in the form of the loss of hundreds of jobs in the different studios. Moreover, the first set of job cuts has already been made public with 200 dismissals proposed for the Paris division of Ubisoft. As a form of immediate response, the French unions have agreed to strike against the company and are currently co-ordinating with their international counterparts. Many different unions consisting of Ubisoft employees—namely the Video Game Workers’ Union, Solidaires Informatique, CFE-CGC, CGT, and Printemps Écologique—have all decided to strike from February 10 to 12.
The main reason for this organized strike against Ubisoft is the publisher’s upcoming massive cost-cutting measure that’s going to save another 200 million euros by March 2028, a decision that can also see thousands of developers and workers being laid off from the company. And employees that can be caught up in those dismissals are many developers from Ubisoft’s lineup of ‘Creative Network’ who are currently in fear of losing their jobs in the process.
The projected layoffs may affect up to 20% of the company’s total workforce and more, which is a serious concern for lots of developers under Ubisoft right now.
