Ubisoft Montreal latest studio struck by layoffs

07.11.2023 - 16:43 / eurogamer.net / Rainbow VI (Vi) / Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft

Ubisoft Montreal is the latest company hit by ongoing cuts as 75 members of staff have been laid off at the Canadian studio.

As reported by Kotaku, the staff cuts come as part of a «reorganisation» of the studio's general and administrative teams, Ubisoft IT, and its SFX studio Hybride (which worked on Disney Plus Star Wars series The Mandalorian).

In a notice to the government of Quebec, the company said: «Ubisoft is proceeding with a collective dismissal in its Montreal establishment within the framework of a reorganisation of its production support services across Canada, by consolidating these functions Canada wide, Ubisoft will be able to optimise its resources to be more sustainable in the long term.»

The layoffs come after Ubisoft Montreal instated a mandatory return-to-office order in September, forcing employees back to the office for a «minimum» of two days a week.

The order was said to have left staff in «turmoil» after the studio reneged on promises that «100 percent remote work would be possible».

IGN noted in its report at the time that a similar policy at Activision Blizzard contributed to a significant staff exodus. Staff at Ubisoft speculated the policy introduction was a «soft layoff» to push employees to quit without the financial drawbacks of a mass layoff.

Now the studio has been hit by layoffs regardless.

That's in addition to layoffs across the company back in May, which included employees based in the UK from Ubisoft's Customer Relation Centre team.

Indeed, the company's latest earnings report stated the company had reduced its headcount by over a thousand people over the past year.

Ubisoft Montreal is the largest development team at the company, known for working on its biggest hits like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six Siege.

Last week, Ubisoft's chief people officer Anika Grant announced she was leaving the company, in what in retrospect may seem like a timely departure.