Today Ubisoft has announced a new round of layoffs affecting over 100 of its employees, mostly based in Canada.
According to a report by Kotaku confirmed by Ubisoft itself, the company is "reorganizing" its Canadian studios' general and administrative functions and also cutting jobs at its Montreal-based visual effects studio Hybride.
The publisher promises that it's providing "comprehensive support" for those affected.
We also hear that this round of headcount reduction doesn't affect development teams.
The reasons are pretty much the usual that you read in any layoffs announcement, "streamlining operations" and "enhancing collective efficiency" with the goal of being "better positioned for success in the long term." We've read this or similar messages way too many times over the past year.
You can read the full comment from Ubisoft below.
Over the past few months, every team within Ubisoft has been exploring ways to streamline our operations and enhance our collective efficiency so that we are better positioned for success in the long term. In this context, today we announced that we are reorganizing our Canadian studios’ general and administrative functions and reducing headcount in Hybride (our VFX studio based in Montreal) and in our global IT team, which impacts 124 positions overall. These are not decisions taken lightly and we are providing comprehensive support for our colleagues who will be leaving Ubisoft during this transition. We also want to share our utmost gratitude and respect for their many contributions to the company. This restructuring does not affect our production teams.
What does it mean for Canada?
As part of this transformation, 98 people, representing less than 2% of our Canadian workforce, from our business administrative services and IT team will be leaving Ubisoft. All affected Canadian employees will be supported through this change, including severance packages, extended benefits where applicable, and career assistance to help them navigate their transition.
In the meanwhile, we recently heard from CEO Yves Guillemot himself that the company is "working very hard" on using AI to make NPCs and worlds to be "more alive, reactive, and intelligent."
This is just the latest of multiple waves of layoffs at the publisher in what is an extremely harsh period for employment in the gaming industry, which continues to bleed jobs.
Many large and small companies have reduced their workforce, including Microsoft, Epic Games, Embracer Group, Bungie, Frontier, Team17, Cryptic Studios, Motorsport Games, and many more.
