Ubisoft Is Laying Off More Staff

Layoffs are sweeping the gaming industry and Ubisoft has announced more. Nearly 10,000 people were laid off last year as the industry started to shift in a different direction. Many companies are looking towards live service games to make the money necessary to survive and Ubisoft has been a part of this trend. Its Skull and Bones was released in February, and continues to capitalize on the live service concept. Regardless, it seems preventing layoffs was not possible.

These situations appear difficult to avoid, no matter how popular the company is. Insomniac Games issued a statement after being hit with layoffs. The fact that the company faced any difficulty at all after the massive success of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 surprised many fans. Ubisoft itself issued rounds of layoffs in 2023, cutting 60 staff members from offices in North Carolina, Newcastle, and the UK in May. The company continued to lay off an additional 124 employees from its visual effects and global IT teams in November. Some former staff members report being shocked by the news, having no warnings prior.

Now, Ubisoft has announced that 45 more employees will be let go. This time, the layoffs will impact the company’s Global Publishing and Asia-Pacific teams. Ubisoft notes in a comment to GameSpot that it does not take layoffs lightly and will be supporting the affected members. It does not appear that the layoffs will stop soon, and where these former employees end up is currently unclear.

Some are still surprised to see a company with popular releases like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown suffering cuts like this, but some argue that this is a consequence of games like Skull and Bones pushing live services. The genre as a whole has soured in the opinion of avid gamers who have grown tired of paying more than the initial price to get the full experience of a game.

Despite the news, the company’s release schedule for its next games does not appear to be affected. Star Wars Outlaws seems to be coming soon, and those working on the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game are expecting a blockbuster 2024 release. In addition to those games, The Division Heartland and XDefiant, a free-to-play arena shooter, remain in production without any roadblocks.

The goal of these layoffs appears to be streamlining the production of games, and this includes decreasing the size of crews working on them at any given moment. However, some professionals have seen the layoffs and have perspectives of their own to offer. Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke blames layoffs on corporate greed. Vincke notes the importance of prioritizing the many people who have several years’ worth of industry knowledge, and using it to help guide the process, instead of cutting staff members to maximize profits.