Support NeoGAF

[Kadve]

The layoffs continue: Ubisoft cuts 124 jobs worldwide, including nearly 100 in Canada

The publisher said the job cuts do not affect its game production teams.

www.pcgamer.com

The game industry has suffered yet another round of layoffs, as Ubisoft confirms that it has cut 124 employees worldwide as part of an ongoing restructuring effort. The bulk of that number, 98 in total, were let go from Ubisoft's business administrative services and IT in Canada, as well as the Hybride VFX studio in Montreal.

Hybride's website describes it as "part of the techno-creative family of Ubisoft," but its work is focused primarily on film and television rather than videogames. The studios numerous projects include Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Watchmen, The House With a Clock in its Walls, and Kong: Skull Island, along with pretty much every recent Star Wars films and series: Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, The Rise of Skywalker, and many others. Ubisoft clarified that Hybride is not part of its major Ubisoft Montreal studio, but is a separate studio based in the same city. According to Mobygames, Hybride's only videogame credit is on Far Cry: Primal.

2023 hasn't been an overly smooth year for Ubisoft. It began with employees at Ubisoft Paris going on strike to protest "catastrophic" comments by CEO Yves Guillemot, who was accused by the Solidaires Informatique union of trying to pin the blame for Ubisoft's financial struggles on employees rather than management. Following that came reports of unrest at multiple Ubisoft studios in Paris, Montpellier, and (via IGN) Montreal, multiple game delays, and an embrace of AI and NFTs that frankly nobody likes.

But it's also been a rough year for the game industry across the board, with layoffs seemingly industry wide. Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studios cut its workforce just last week as part of Embracer's ongoing financial struggles, Bungie made cuts in October amidst reports of declining Destiny 2 player numbers, and Epic laid off more than 800 people in September just because it was burning too much cash. Other big game companies including Electronic Arts, Activision, Take-Two, and CD Projekt, along with numerous smaller developers, have followed suit.

 

[LordBlodgett]

Ubisoft has like 20,000 employees, so this is a really tiny proportion of that. In fact I think Ubisoft is one of the more bloated developers out there, and I'm really surprised we haven't seen bigger cuts.

 

[Big Baller]

 

[FalsettoVibe]

At this point can't we just have a consolidated layoff thread?

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Who would have thought that not puting out Skull and Bones or Beyond Good and Evil 2 would have consequences.....

 

[kruis]

The entire IT industry is seeing massive layoffs, this is not limited to the game industry. There'll be plenty more of these announcements.

 

[yurinka]

The entire IT industry is seeing massive layoffs, this is not limited to the game industry. There'll be plenty more of these announcements.

This company has like 19500 workers, this is less than 1% of their headcount. They supposedly fired barely 100 people, not several thousand people.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Ubisoft has like 20,000 employees, so this is a really tiny proportion of that. In fact I think Ubisoft is one of the more bloated developers out there, and I'm really surprised we haven't seen bigger cuts.

It always boggles my mind each time I google Ubisoft and see that they have 20k employees. That's like SIE and Nintendo total headcount combined! How!?

 

[Kadve]

This company has like 19500 workers, this is less than 1% of their headcount. They supposedly fired barely 100 people, not several thousand people.

Their goal was to cut 700 this year. Think this was just the latest in that step.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Yeah I just can’t get worked up over a company that has 20,000 employees letting 100 of them go, especially when most of that is admin and IT. There are so many IT jobs elsewhere. It is just ridiculous. Like, honestly who cares

 

[Mercador]

It's almost nothing, too bad for those who got licensed but they'll get another jobs, there are still a lot of offerings on the IT market.

I would expect more layoffs than that however.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

About a 0.5% staff reduction, probably because they've now shipped the new Ass Creed game.

 

[Kadve]

It's almost nothing, too bad for those who got licensed but they'll get another jobs, there are still a lot of offerings on the IT market.

I would expect more layoffs than that however.

This is actually just the final part. Theyve cut almost a 1000 jobs this year in total.

Ubisoft Delays Skull And Bones And An Upcoming "Large" Game

Ubisoft has delayed two games.

www.gamespot.com

Hell the industry as a whole is estimsted to have laid of ~6500 people during 2023.

2024 - Game Industry Layoffs - Obsidian Publish

2024 - Game Industry Layoffs - Powered by Obsidian Publish.

videogamelayoffs.com

 

[CGNoire]

So 0.0012% of there workforce.

 

[RoboFu]

Wasn’t Ubisoft one of first to claim it would use AI in development ? Hmmm

 

[StreetsofBeige]

UB-AI

 

[Giallo Corsa]

UB-AI

I mean, most of their games feel procedurally generated so...

 

[Mercador]

Wasn’t Ubisoft one of first to claim it would use AI in development ? Hmmm

Yeah but those cut aren't on the production side. It's more about administration and IT staff.

 

[yurinka]

Wasn’t Ubisoft one of first to claim it would use AI in development ? Hmmm

Most big companies are using it. And out of all big publishers, Ubisoft is the one who fired less people (and being that large, also the smallest percent of people).

 

[West Texas CEO]

why is Canada getting the brunt of this?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

why is Canada getting the brunt of this?

Probably because when it comes to chopping block time, support service functions are often the first to go. They aren't revenue generating. Typically the core functions that keep their jobs the easiest in crunch times are Sales (revenue generating), production (someone needs to make the shit), and for non-digital companies the blue collar crew of warehousing and shipping because that needs to happen to execute getting the revenue.

Support roles are easier to fire people and just ask remaining people to split up the work.

The game industry has suffered yet another round of layoffs, as Ubisoft confirms that it has cut 124 employees worldwide as part of an ongoing restructuring effort. The bulk of that number, 98 in total, were let go from Ubisoft's business administrative services and IT in Canada, as well as the Hybride VFX studio in Montreal.

 

[Punished Miku]

It always boggles my mind each time I google Ubisoft and see that they have 20k employees. That's like SIE and Nintendo total headcount combined! How!?

They put out giant open world games that make Fallout 4 blush almost annually. They're a factory.

 

[Drizzlehell]

I hope it's all French Canadians.