Another Ubisoft Studio Shuts Down, Others Downsized

Ubisoft is shutting the doors to its UK studio in Leamington, Eurogamer reports. The company is currently restructuring three other studios resulting in redundancies across the company.

Ubisoft closes its Leamington studio, cuts 185 jobs

Ubisoft’s Leamington studio housed 50 people, some of which will remain under remote contract for the time being. The company is also restructuring its offices in Düsseldorf, Stockholm, and Newcastle (Ubisoft Reflections). As a result, 185 employees will be laid off.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritise 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,” a Ubisoft spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”

Ubisoft Leamington was originally founded in 2002 as FreeStyle Games. They are most known for the DJ Hero series. They also developed 2015’s Guitar Hero Live, the entry that changed the layout of its guitar peripheral. They were acquired by the French publisher in 2017 and have worked as a support studio ever since.

This studio closure comes just a little under two months after Ubisoft announced it was shutting down its San Francisco and Osaka studios. During this time, the company also shut down its free-to-play shooter XDefiant. Existing players can still play the game until June.

Earlier this month, Ubisoft released a statement detailing how it plans to “enhance operational efficiency.” It seems this restructuring is part of that initiative, as well as the recently reported partnership between the publisher and Tencent.

“We have taken decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver best-in-class player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation,” said Ubisoft co-founder Yves Guillemot. “We also recently appointed leading advisors and are actively exploring various strategic and capitalistic options to unlock the full value potential of our assets. We are convinced that there are several potential paths to generate value from Ubisoft’s assets and franchises.”

(Source: Eurogamer)

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