Ubisoft has closed down yet another studio and laid off almost 200 employees, with a support outfit in the UK being shuttered and three studios undergoing "targeted restructurings", i.e. layoffs.
Speaking to Eurogamer, a spokesperson for Ubisoft said the closure and downsizings were "part of our ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs" in order to "ensure long-term stability".
As such, the company's Leamington branch, a support studio that's worked on the likes of Star Wars Outlaws and Skull and Bones, will be closed entirely, while Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections will be downsized. Overall, Ubisoft is letting go 185 of its employees.

The cost-cutting measures to which Ubisoft refers have already seen it close down its San Francisco and Osaka branches, the former being responsible for developing the flop multiplayer FPS XDefiant.
It's not just XDefiant that flopped, either; two high-profile releases, namely Star Wars Outlaws and Skull and Bones (both of which Leamington worked on as a support studio), contributed to a $285 million loss for the company in the first half of the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Ubisoft's woes don't end there, either. Having likely banked on the November release of Assassin's Creed Shadows to bolster its finances, the game was instead delayed to February, then again to March.
As if that wasn't enough, the company is also facing unrest from its shareholders, some of whom have called for "strategic and structural change" and expressed "deep dissatisfaction" with what they see as the direction in which the studio is currently heading.

Amid reports that company boss Yves Guillemot and major shareholder Tencent are considering taking the company private, another potential force to be reckoned with on this front is the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which has reportedly provided funding for new Assassin's Creed Mirage DLC.
Whatever the case may be, Ubisoft desperately needs a big hit if it's going to dig itself out of the rut in which it's found itself. For the sake of the company, let's hope Assassin's Creed Shadows is that hit. You can read our preview of it here if you want to know how we think it's shaping up.