Ubisoft in a death spiral. Close 2 more studios, gut another. ..rumors San Fran is next

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Ubisoft is closing two more studios, in Winnipeg and Belgrade, and making more layoffs throughout the company as part of its ongoing effort to reduce costs and keep the lights on. A source familiar with the matter said the cuts will see up to 380 people put out of work.

The layoffs appear to have landed particularly heavily on Ubisoft's Barcelona studio, which an Insider Gaming report says will see 51 people let go. Mataoui Chakib Souleyman, a programmer at Ubisoft Paris, said on LinkedIn that the number represents 28% of Ubisoft Barcelona's workforce. As part of the restructuring, the studio, which had previously worked on a wide range of Ubisoft properties including Assassin's Creed, The Crew, Ghost Recon, and Immortals: Fenyx Rising, will also shift its focus exclusively to the Rainbow Six franchise.

The closures and layoffs are the latest bad news for Ubisoft employees, coming amidst an ongoing restructuring in which the founding Guillemot family is struggling furiously to retain control of the company while hundreds, and probably thousands, of rank-and-file employees lose their jobs. At the same time, Ubisoft is leaning ever-harder into AI, and investing heavily into generative AI in particular, despite continued pushback against the adoption of the technology in videogames.

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