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[AtomicStarving]

The move will see the company close Ubisoft Leamington, which is based in Leamington Spa, England, and make cuts at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections.

Ubisoft Leamington was previously known as FreeStyleGames – the studio behind the DJ Hero series – before it was acquired by Ubisoft from Activision in 2017. It has since worked mainly as a support studio on games such as Far Cry 5, Avatar, and Star Wars Outlaws.

Ubisoft said in a statement provided to VGC: “As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site.

“Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition”

Ubisoft confirms 185 layoffs as it closes former DJ Hero studio and downsizes others | VGC

Assassin’s Creed maker Ubisoft is cutting jobs in Europe as part of wider restructuring plans…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[justiceiro]

They are preparing for getting acquired.

 

[Peroroncino]

Shedding skin to look better for the inevitable sale?

I'm guessing it'll only get worse for the devs, if I were at Ubisoft rn I'd be updating my CV

 

[Kacho]

Tencent intensifies

 

[Sebastian1295]

They are preparing for getting acquired.

They don't have alot of valuable franchises outside of assassin's creed that make alot of money. Out of the big publishers left 'EA, Capcom, Square enix etc' Ubisoft are the least attractive out of the bunch by far. Good luck to whoever buys them because it's a sinking ship sadly that needs alotttt of help. You'd have to gut alot of the company and fix everything.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

oh boy, ho boy. there is no going to be a company or industry to build

 

[MMaRsu]

oh boy, ho boy. there is no going to be a company or industry to build

Seems like a really weird way to say we keep trying and we just keep not getting it right, so we gotta keep trying

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

The DJ Hero studio did amazing work on their games. Still worth picking them up and playing today IMO.

 

[N1tr0sOx1d3]

Always sad to hear about layoffs unless DEI pushers.

Hope they find jobs quickly.

 

[Saber]

Let me guess, gamers fault.

Ubisoft is so rock bottom and disconnected with the player base that is hard to care. Not even the soy posts about telling people to feel bad about lay outs affect me. If those devs are actually good then they gonna land on their feet. Otherwise, no reason to feel pity for this company at all, they could cease to exist for all I care.

 

[SplunkyMunkey]

I think someone should stop tencent from buying studios at this rate tencent is gonna own every damn studio or publishers some1 like nintendo or sony should swoop in

 

[Fake]

 

[touchfuzzy]

Another smaller dev that made some cool games, acquired by a big publisher to do thankless grunt work on mega-franchise games, then eventually closed. AAA gaming is great!

 

[EN250]

Downsizing in order to look good in the books for the impending fire sale you say? Goddamn, they're going down in flames lmao

 

[yurinka]

Downsizing in order to look good in the books for the impending fire sale you say?

They are preparing for getting acquired.

They have around 20K employees, for that scale 185 people isn't barely anything. It's just cutting some fat to be more profitable.

The same that previous many others also did in a proportionally bigger scale: MS, Sony, EA, Take 2, Embracer and so on or many other non-gaming tech giants that obviously own't be sold.

To downsize a bit doesn't mean they want to sell these companies.

 

[That Damn Kid]

DJ Hero was such a cool game. I enjoy it more than Guitar Hero

I need to dig this out of my basement some day

 

[DeepEnigma]

oh boy, ho boy. there is no going to be a company or industry to build

Our vision.

 

[Gamezone]

Everything went down hill during the EGS exclusive period.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

"Restructuring", "deeply grateful"

I'm a bit disappointed not to read "optimize". That will be in the next round, I presume.

 

[GymWolf]

They don't have alot of valuable franchises outside of assassin's creed that make alot of money. Out of the big publishers left 'EA, Capcom, Square enix etc' Ubisoft are the least attractive out of the bunch by far. Good luck to whoever buys them because it's a sinking ship sadly that needs alotttt of help. You'd have to gut alot of the company and fix everything.

They have:

The division
Splinter cell
Rainbow six
Assassins
Rayman
Watch dogs
Etc. Etc.


In the right hamds all these franchise could make some decent\big money.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Never knew UBI owned studio buying them out in 2017.

As for you guys above talking about acquisition ploy, bingo.

Every buyer wants as much crud gone as possible so they can start as clean a d lean as possible. Also, they dont want the hassles of buying and doing the axing either as it'd make them look bad on day one.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

 

[Kilau]

They have:

The division
Splinter cell
Rainbow six
Assassins
Rayman
Watch dogs
Etc. Etc.


In the right hamds all these franchise could make some decent\big money.

Oh, you said "right" hands.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

They have:

The division
Splinter cell
Rainbow six
Assassins
Rayman
Watch dogs
Etc. Etc.


In the right hamds all these franchise could make some decent\big money.

They got lots of good IP, and many of them sell well and get decent ratings. Problem is they just got too many people. 20,000-ish. I think the biggest in the industry.

I totally get it that employee count can be misleading if UBI has 20k employees and 0 contract staff while another large company looks good at 5k internal employees, but doesnt tell people they got 20k contractors. But assuming employee counts arent fudged too much, they got way to many people in too many offices around the world.

If they can cut the dumb games (like SKull Bones) and maybe do more IPs that arent shooter related, they can spread out some of their games into different genres. Many of their existing big IPs are shooters, and they still keep going for more (xdefiant).

 

[Three]

They don't have alot of valuable franchises outside of assassin's creed that make alot of money. Out of the big publishers left 'EA, Capcom, Square enix etc' Ubisoft are the least attractive out of the bunch by far. Good luck to whoever buys them because it's a sinking ship sadly that needs alotttt of help. You'd have to gut alot of the company and fix everything.

They have Rainbow Six Seige as well as Assassins Creed. They should have made a football game honestly. Being in Europe and all.

 

[Mr Moose]

I think someone should stop tencent from buying studios at this rate tencent is gonna own every damn studio or publishers some1 like nintendo or sony should swoop in

Bloated company, not worth it.

 

[Drake]

Is this a rare victory for the incels or the chuds? I can't even keep track anymore.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Several Ubisoft employees reported to have heard the news, then proceeded to Go, Crying.

 

[Trilobit]

I wonder if we'll get to see this game before it's too late.

 

[nial]

I think someone should stop tencent from buying studios at this rate tencent is gonna own every damn studio or publishers some1 like nintendo or sony should swoop in

Neither want this bloated mess of a company.

 

[nani17]

Microsoft right now

 

[Bradamante3D]

I wonder if we'll get to see this game before it's too late.

That ape looks like a DEI hire to me.

Also, only 185 people? Sorry Ubisoft, but that's not how you paint the acquisition target on your back.

 

[Kings Field]

Put the fries in the bag and don't forget the straw.

 

[BaneIsPain]

We are closer to the end of Ubisoft. Reap what you sow.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Dj hero hey? What they been doing since?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I wonder if we'll get to see this game before it's too late.

Never played beyond good and evil 1.

But I never knew the franchise was about scary spice meets planet of the apes.

 

[IllegalLemon]

The beginning... of the end.

 

[Mikado]

They have:

The division

And then they go and waste Massive's talents on SW:O and that Avatar game

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Unemployment beckons

 

[STARSBarry]

DJ Hero was such a cool game. I enjoy it more than Guitar Hero

I need to dig this out of my basement some day

Literally have that in my loft as well... it's funny i really prefered the gameplay of those one over Guitar Hero, never did get the sequel though.

 

[IFireflyl]

Ubisoft has more staff members than they have people playing their games.

 

[Complistic]

Unemployment beckons

No way this is real

 

[Dr Cowley]

Unemployment beckons

The plot fattens

 

[Crew511A]

Microsoft right now

Unless they're planning to make the games console exclusive, why bother?

 

[Laptop1991]

Ubisoft have never learn't anything, ever, lol, their games are getting worse and worse, are even more anti consumer than in the past, they are however getting better and better at total BS! lol.

 

[IAmRei]

Ubisoft have never learn't anything, ever, lol, their games are getting worse and worse are even more anti consumer than in the past, they are however getting better and better at total BS! lol/

So, they are better now, then..
Better at the worst : ))

 

[Laptop1991]

So, they are better now, then..
Better at the worst : ))

Yes lol.

 

[IFireflyl]

Unemployment beckons

Spoiler: screenshot in case link goes down

 

[HogIsland]

Sucks man, this would be a great time to do a DJ Hero with Skrillex and Fred Again.

 

[nani17]

Unless they're planning to make the games console exclusive, why bother?

Because xbox wants to be the netflix of gaming. Grab all the IP's