Ubisoft is the latest company to announce new layoffs and a studio closure.
Closing is Ubisoft Leamington, developer of DJ Hero, while other European studios also feel the cuts, for a total of 185 layoffs. Job cuts are also happening at Ubisoft Dusseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm, and Ubisoft Reflections. The Leamington studio was formerly an Activision Ubisoft bought it 8 years ago. Since then, they’ve supported games like Far Cry 5, Avatar, and most recently, Star Wars Outlaws.
In a statement to Video Games Chronicle, Ubisoft confirmed the reductions and said that they are part of “ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft”. What this means for the studios that are not closing is “restructuring”, a word that we often hear tossed around when it comes to these layoff reports. We don't know what this will consist of yet, but Ubisoft has been explong actions that could help them turn the company around after some disappointing releases.
There have been a number of reports about the company potentially going up for sale (though these do happen once in a while for years now), although most have gone unconfirmed. The role of the Guillemot family’s control and stake are some of the big consideration points, and some rumors have pointed to negotiations that attempted to not reduce their overall control.
This month, CEO and co-founder Yves Guiillemot said, in a press release,
“Ubisoft announced today that it has appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders. This process will be overseen by the independent members of the Board of Directors. Ubisoft will inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and once a transaction materializes.”
Guillemot followed this with a vow to pursue cost reductions. The company “now expects to exceed €200 million in reduction of its fixed cost base by FY2025-26 vs. FY2022-23 on an annualized basis,” he said.
These new rounds of cuts may be just the beginning of motion there.