Ubisoft is continuing with its major restructuring plans, and as part of this, a new report indicates that the company will be shutting down Finland-based developer RedLynx – the studio behind the Trials franchise. According to VideoGamesChronicle, this studio closure will happen alongside layoffs at Ubisoft Singapore to reduce the studio’s overall headcount.
The closure of RedLynx was seemingly decided on because the studio isn’t working on any new projects, and the company couldn’t quite see a way to keep it open with a reduced headcount and still keep it sustainable. Ultimately, shutting it down will result in 52 job cuts. The report also notes that this decision will trigger Finland’s mandatory employer-employee discussions, which only kick in if a company’s decision will affect more than 50 employees.
Ubisoft Singapore, on the other hand, is slated to continue working as a support studio for larger projects. However, the studio is seemingly due for a restructuring, and the ensuing layoffs will impact 70 of its employees.
RedLynx was founded all the way back in 2000 under a different name – Punainen Ilves Laboratoriot Oy. The Helsinki-based studio is known for a number of games, with the most prominent ones being the Trials franchise. Kicking things off with the release of the original Trials as a browser-based game, RedLynx would go on to work on several projects across a wide variety of platforms, including the Nokia N-Gage – a platform for which the studio made games like High Seize, Pathway to Glory: Ikusa Islands, and Reset Generation.
The studio would start getting more acclaim with the release of Trials HD on the Xbox 360 in 2009, which would then be followed up with Trials Evolution in 2012. Following this, RedLynx largely became known for its work on the same franchise going forward, with releases like 2014’s Trials Frontier for Android and iOS and Trials Fusion for PC and consoles. The last game in the franchise was released in 2019 – Trials Rising.
RedLynx also worked alongside Massive Entertainment for the Google Stadia port of The Division 2.
Ubisoft Singapore was founded in 2008, and has spent much of its life working as a support studio on a variety of Assassin’s Creed games. The studio also headed up work on Skull and Bones. Its most recent release was Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced from earlier this year. Prior to this, the studio has also led development on Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Ghost Recon Phantoms.
As a support studio, Ubisoft Singapore has contributed to several Assassin’s Creed games dating back to 2009’s Assassin’s Creed 2. Most recently, it helped out with the development of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
This report of an impending studio closure and resulting layoffs comes just a few months after Ubisoft discussed how it risks “losing key talents and skills” as part of its restructuring efforts. In its annual financial report, Ubisoft noted that “The sudden departure of members of the games core teams could be damaging to the Group’s development and could have a significant impact on its editorial policy.”
