Ubisoft lays off over 100 employees to ‘streamline’ operations

2023 continues to be the year of major video game layoffs as Ubisoft confirmed today that it has laid off 124 employees, several of them at its Montreal studios. According to Ubisoft, the employees are primarily in business administration and IT teams, and these layoffs are part of its efforts to “streamline our operations and enhance our collective efficiency.”

According to Ubisoft, 98 of the employees work for its Canadian offices, and work for both its Hybride VFX studio and the global IT team. They represent about 2% of its total Canadian staff. The company says the layoffs won’t affect its production teams and that it’ll offer extended benefits and severance packages to its former employees.

This is not the first time Ubisoft has spoken about its efforts to “streamline operations” while affecting staff. In September, Ubisoft closed its London studio, a primarily mobile-focused developer, affecting 54 staff members. The parent company said it was moving the studio’s biggest title, the Hungry Sharks franchise, to the Ubisoft Barcelona Mobile studio. At the time, the studio said this was part of its “ongoing efforts to enhance efficiency, streamline operations, and reduce costs.”

Earlier this year, Ubisoft announced that it was canceling several unannounced projects and cutting its sales targets for 2023 after games in 2022 underperformed. According to its latest earnings report, it has also reduced the number of total staff worldwide from 20,729 (in September 2022) to 19,140 (in September 2023) thanks to “continued tight control on recruitments as well as targeted restructurings” as part of its cost reduction plan.