Ubisoft has reportedly applied another restructuring program to its company, and this led to the shutdown of two studios under it, as well as its staff facing massive layoffs.
The move adds to what has been a turbulent stretch for the French publisher, which has been steadily reducing its workforce and scaling back operations this year.
Ubisoft Lays Off 400 Employees In Latest Efforts
According to VGC, the closures and restructuring come as part of Ubisoft's global cost-saving plan, leading to various games getting either canceled or shelved and multiple studios shutting down, resulting in hundreds of job losses this year.
The latest round of cuts is expected to affect up to 380 employees across the two studios being shut down, as well as additional role reductions within Ubisoft's Global Publishing team. The company has stated it is aiming to reduce fixed costs by an additional €200 million over the next two years as part of what it is calling a major reset of its business.
In March, Ubisoft announced around 100 job losses at the Tom Clancy game studio, Red Storm Entertainment, which it said would no longer be developing its own games.
Ubisoft also proposed the removal of up to 200 jobs at its headquarters in Paris, France. This accounts for around 18% of staff. The company also confirmed layoffs at its Toronto studio and others.
Ubisoft Shuts Down Two Studios
According to GameRant, Ubisoft is closing its Winnipeg and Belgrade studios and restructuring its Barcelona office. Ubisoft Barcelona will be restructured to focus solely on "Rainbow Six" projects.
The Winnipeg studio was founded in 2018 and employed around 100 people, with it having a primary focus on developing technology for two of Ubisoft's in-house game engines, Anvil and Snowdrop. Both have powered a wide range of the publisher's biggest titles over the years.
On the other hand, the decade-old Ubisoft Belgrade contributed to games including "The Crew 2," "Assassin's Creed Shadows," "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora," and "Ghost Recon Wildlands." Its closure marks the end of a decade-long run for the Serbia-based team.
Are There Any Games Affected?
The closure of Ubisoft Winnipeg is unlikely to directly impact any single game in production, given that the studio was focused on engine technology rather than individual titles. However, losing an internal team dedicated to maintaining Anvil and Snowdrop could slow development workflows at other Ubisoft studios that rely on those engines going forward.
Ubisoft Belgrade's contributions were largely in a support capacity across multiple projects rather than as the primary developer on any standalone release. Its closure is not expected to cancel any currently announced game, though the full downstream effects on titles still in development across the company may not be fully clear for some time.
Ubisoft's major reset plan includes restructuring its creative teams into what it describes as autonomous creative houses, a structural change intended to give individual teams more independence while operating at a lower fixed cost.
No specific release date delays have been attributed to the studio closures at this point, but the cumulative impact of the ongoing restructuring on Ubisoft's 2026 and 2027 release slate remains an open question.
