We’ve been following a fresh round of upheaval at Ubisoft, and if Eurogamer’s reporting is accurate, this is another significant shake-up for the publisher. According to Eurogamer, two smaller Ubisoft studios — Ubisoft Winnipeg and Ubisoft Belgrade — are being shuttered, while Ubisoft Barcelona is being refocused to concentrate solely on Rainbow Six projects. Take this with a pinch of salt, but the reported scale of the cuts is striking: around 380 people are expected to lose their jobs if these moves go ahead as described.
What Was Reported
Per Eurogamer, the two closures are framed differently by role. Ubisoft Winnipeg is described as “mainly a support and tech studio,” working on Ubisoft’s proprietary Anvil and Snowdrop engines. Ubisoft Belgrade is named as a smaller co-developer that allegedly contributed to projects such as Ghost Recon Wildlands, The Crew 2, Skull and Bones and others.
The report says Ubisoft Barcelona will now focus on developing and supporting Rainbow Six projects. Eurogamer also claims the restructuring will touch the company’s Global Publishing team.
Some employees were reportedly told in an internal meeting, with at least some staff finding out on Wednesday in a discussion with management. Overall, approximately 380 people are expected to be affected by these latest cuts.
The Source & Credibility
According to Eurogamer, Insider Gaming was first to break the story, and reporting from Game Developer and VGC has reportedly added additional details. Take this with a pinch of salt: Eurogamer presents the information as a synthesis of those earlier reports and internal communications it has seen.
The outlet connects these moves to broader company reshuffles that have already been documented this year. Eurogamer notes this is the third round of layoffs at Ubisoft so far this year. In March, over 100 people were laid off at Red Storm Entertainment, which has since shifted to supporting the wider Ubisoft apparatus — notably across the Snowdrop engine and other technical operations — and is “no longer making its own games,” per the reporting.
Eurogamer also references previous closures and headcount reductions earlier in the year that affected studios including Halifax, Stockholm, Ubisoft Abu Dhabi, Redlynx, and Massive Entertainment. The outlet ties the current round to the company’s ongoing cost-cutting measures and CEO-level strategic decisions.
What It Could Mean
If true, these changes suggest Ubisoft is consolidating technical and co-development resources and tightening focus around its major franchises. Eurogamer points to Ubisoft’s October investment deal — a reported €1.16bn investment from Tencent that created Vantage Studios — as part of the context for this reorganisation. Vantage, per the reporting, was framed as concentrating on the company’s biggest franchises, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six.
Eurogamer states that Tencent owns a 25 percent stake in Vantage, while creative and leadership decisions reportedly sit with Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot, the son of Ubisoft CEO Yves. The source claims teams within Vantage have greater ownership over their projects, which is presented as a break from Ubisoft’s longstanding centralised development model.
Separately, Eurogamer reports the cuts have also impacted Ubisoft Montreal, with at least one report saying the job losses affected the Rainbow Six Siege development team and several people working on Rainbow Six Siege Mobile. Again: these impacts are described as reported and may vary by source.
Why This Matters
Take this with a pinch of salt, but the picture Eurogamer paints — if accurate — is of a major studio network reshaping technical support, co-development, and franchise-focused teams. That could change how Ubisoft develops and supports long-running live services like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, and it signals further centralisation around key franchises under the reported Vantage initiative.
For the people at the affected studios, the human cost is front and centre: Eurogamer’s reporting places the expected job losses at around 380, and it records that many staff were informed internally in meetings. For observers of the industry, it’s another high-profile example of the tensions between cost-cutting and large-scale live-service development. As always, take these reports with a pinch of salt — we’ll keep watching for confirmations, clarifications, and responses from Ubisoft and the studios named.
