Ubisoft has announced that it will be shutting down its Leamington studio, resulting in a host of layoffs. Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections will also be affected by these job cuts, which will affect 185 employees across Europe.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site,” said the studio in a statement to VideoGamesChronicle. “Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”
For context, the studio being shut down was originally known as FreeStyleGames. Based out of Leamington Spa, England, the studio has previously worked on titles like the DJ Hero franchise. Since being acquired by Ubisoft and being dubbed Ubisoft Leamington, the studio has worked as support for various major Ubisoft releases, including Star Wars Outlaws, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Far Cry 5.
It is currently unknown if this news is related to a rumour from January about Ubisoft wanting to work with Tencent in creating a new venture. This new venture would own Ubisoft’ assets, and would help in raising the overall value of Ubisoft. Neither Tencent nor Ubisoft have confirmed this rumour, however.
In the mean time, Ubisoft has spoken about hiring advisors that would explore ways to raise the value of the company. Founder Yves Guillemot spoke about these advisors exploring “transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.” These advisors will be overseen by an independent group of the company’s Board of Directors.
Ubisoft is currently gearing up for its next major release: Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The game, after seeing several delays, has gotten a March 20 release date, and will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The company has been revealing quite a few details about the upcoming title, including the fact that one of its protagonists will not have assassin abilities, the title’s accessibility features and options, and the fact that it will not have new points of interest every 50 meters. Check out the story trailer from earlier this month for more details.
It will be launching alongside the new Animus Hub, which will work as the home for Assassin’s Creed titles in the future. Interestingly, titles older than Assassin’s Creed Origins will not be supported by Animus Hub.
