Ahead of Ubisoft’s planned restructuring of its Barcelona studio, employees have announced that they are going on strike. The reason behind this is that 51 of the studio’s employees are slated to be affected by upcoming layoffs. The strikes will take place on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between June 30th and July 16th, totalling up to six strikes over three weeks, according to the announcement made through the Video Game Union Coordinating Committee (via Insider Gaming).
As part of the strike, the employees at Ubisoft Barcelona have a few demands, with the most important ones among them being protection for their jobs and a mandate for continuity, which would ensure that the 51 affected employees are made permanent additions to the studio’s workforce. The job security demand involves a commitment to shield the employees from future layoffs for at least 5 years.
There are also a host of other demands by the employees, like following through on agreed-upon internal promotions that had been put on hold by Ubisoft, a reinstatement of the studio’s work-from-home policies, which involved allowing employees to work remotely for 60 percent of the month, and a formal review and unblocking of a salary improvement plan and social benefits packages for the workforce.
The announcement of this strike comes a few weeks after reports had indicated that Ubisoft would be undergoing restructuring that will result in around 380 employees being laid off. According to an internal memo sent out by Ubisoft’s leadership, the company claimed that it has been trying to evolve the company’s structure to “simplify how it operates, reduce its cost base, and strengthen the company for the long term.”
This led to around 165 employees being laid off at Ubisoft’s Winnipeg and Belgrade studios, and at the time, the company had seemingly begun consultations about a similar restructuring for Ubisoft Barcelona. This restructuring would refocus the studio on the Rainbow Six franchise.
“Changes are also underway across the global Publishing organization, to adapt how teams are structured and deployed, while maintaining a strong presence in key markets. Pending consultations, these decisions mean that up to 380 employees could be impacted.”
In its earnings report from May, Ubisoft had reported losses of around €1.3 billion (roughly $1.40 billion) for the fiscal year ending on March 31st, 2026. Net bookings across the company had also fallen by 17.4 percent year-on-year. These losses have likely played a major role in the company’s bid to reduce its spending through restructuring and mass layoffs.
As for its future, Ubisoft has warned investors that there will likely be losses of between 8 and 9 percent in the next fiscal year as well, amounting to roughly €500 million. In the following fiscal year, however, the company expects to see positive cash flow and profitability. The company has cited the upcoming releases of games that will include more ways for players to spend money as a source of these future profits.
In the meantime, Ubisoft is gearing up to release Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on July 9th.
