Ubisoft has laid off 33 members of its Ubisoft Toronto staff.
In a statement to press, Ubisoft said the layoffs were part of a “targeted realignment” necessary to ensure it can “deliver on its ambitious roadmap.
Newscast: Why are there so many games industry layoffs? “Ubisoft Toronto has decided to conduct a targeted realignment to ensure it can deliver on its ambitious roadmap,” a company representative said in a statement to PC Gamer.
“Unfortunately, this will impact the roles of 33 team members who will be leaving Ubisoft. We are committed to providing comprehensive support to them, including severance and career assistance, to help through this transition.”
It’s unclear what departments have been affected by the cuts, or how this may impact Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake that Ubisoft Toronto was recently brought in to support. However, Ubisoft insists “our plan remains unchanged, and our teams are working to deliver on the Splinter Cell remake and other projects at the studio”.
This is just the latest in an long line of studio shutdowns and redundancies, and marks an unflinchingly miserable time for games and the people who make them. By the end of May 2024 – so not even halfway through the year – more than 10,000 people had been laid off from their jobs this year across the industry.
When Ed wrote the article above at the end of May, 10,000 people had lost their jobs in the games industry. Now, that total has increased to 10,800. For comparison, 10,500 people were laid off in 2023, meaning more devs have been impacted by the layoffs so far in 2024 in less than half the time.
“The layoffs will slow down. Most of the big companies have made their moves now, and hopefully they won’t need to go further (some analysts speaking to GamesIndustry.biz believe companies may now need to hire back up within a few years). But the pain isn’t over,” wrote GamesIndustry.biz’s Chris Dring for Eurogamer on the state of video game layoffs.
Yesterday, we reported that Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot had spoken out to condemn “the malicious and personal online attacks” directed at its developers, in the wake of the online fallout from Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ reveal.
