Ubisoft which is the large "French video game company" behind major franchises like Assassin's Creed, The Division, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, has announced another round of staffing cuts that will impact its Swedish studios "Massive Entertainment" and "Ubisoft Stockholm". According to official company statements and independent reports, around 55 roles across both the studios are expected to be affected by a proposed organizational restructure that aims to realign the teams and adjust the company's long-term development capacity.
This move comes after a voluntary leave program was offered to the employees in fall 2025, which Ubisoft says did not achieve the target reduction headcount needed for the operational planning. The voluntary program was intended to give team members the option to leave with financial and career support, but ultimately, the company still determined that it needed to proceed with involuntary layoffs to meet its restructuring goals. Ubisoft insists that the layoffs are not due to individual performance issues or quality of work. This latest announcement follows the recent closure of Ubisoft Halifax, which resulted in 71 job losses, and previous layoffs at other Ubisoft locations as part of ongoing cost reduction.
The exact reason behind these layoffs is that according to Ubisoft, the layoffs are part of a strategic cost-cutting and organizational restructure which is usually a business term that means reshaping teams and roles to better fit the company's future projects and financial goals. The company also told staff that after finalizing its long-term roadmap and completing its staffing review, it gained a "clearer visibility into the structure and capacity required" to support the ongoing development.
The layoffs follow a "voluntary program" where workers could choose to leave with support; however, Ubisoft decided that additional workforce reduction was necessary to achieve the desired staffing level. The official statements emphasize that this change is "forward-looking and structural", not a response to the performance of individuals or teams. This is happening in a larger context of industrywide job cuts across big game companies which is becoming a trend and Ubisoft has been part of this trend over the last few years, with ongoing layoffs and studio closures as it attempts to balance finances and resources.
For people affected by the layoffs, the immediate impact is the loss of their jobs obviously. Ubisoft says it will inform impacted employees directly and individually and support them "with care and respect in line with local regulations." Typically, in Sweden, where "Massive Entertainment" and "Ubisoft Stockholm" are based — employment laws provide strong worker protections, which means laid-off employees should receive severance pay, notice periods, and possibly career assistance or job placement help.
For the broader projects that the laid-off workers supported, Ubisoft claims that the core development will continue. Ongoing work like The Division 3 or future unannounced games is expected to proceed, but losing experienced developers can still disrupt workflows and timelines. Even well-known franchises and respected development teams are not immune to strategic restructuring, cost pressures, and shifting business priorities.
What do you guys think on this move of Ubisoft? What do you think the challenges that laid-off workers might face? Do you think they will be supported in future? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments where you can also provide latest news so I can make a breakdown of it.