Ubisoft's Third Layoff Wave of 2026 Claims Two Studios

"We just started re-examining it, looking for opportunities we missed," Assassin's Creed Black Flag writer Darby McDevitt told IGN this week about returning to the franchise he helped define. He was talking about a remake, but the quote lands differently when you read it alongside the news that broke the same day: Ubisoft is closing two more studios and restructuring a third, putting up to 380 people at risk of losing their jobs. The company is re-examining plenty right now, and the opportunities it keeps finding are opportunities to cut.

Ubisoft Winnipeg and Ubisoft Belgrade are both being shuttered, according to The Game Business and multiple other outlets. Winnipeg, established in 2018, primarily supported Ubisoft's Anvil and Snowdrop engine teams. Belgrade, founded in 2016, contributed to Ghost Recon Wildlands, The Crew 2, and Skull & Bones. Ubisoft Barcelona, meanwhile, is being restructured to work exclusively on Rainbow Six projects, ending its contributions to Assassin's Creed and The Division. Reports also indicate that cuts have hit Ubisoft Montreal, including staff on the Rainbow Six Siege development team and Rainbow Six Siege Mobile.

Three rounds, six months

This is the third distinct wave of layoffs Ubisoft has carried out in 2026, and we're barely past the halfway mark. In January, the company closed its Halifax and Stockholm studios and reduced headcount at Ubisoft Abu Dhabi, Redlynx, and Massive Entertainment. In March, over 100 people were let go at Red Storm Entertainment, the long-time Tom Clancy studio, which was stripped of its game development role entirely. Now Winnipeg and Belgrade join the list. The layoffs are reportedly still pending consultation, so the final number could shift, but the trajectory is unmistakable.

All of this traces back to the €1.16 billion Tencent investment announced in October last year, which created a new subsidiary called Vantage Studios to oversee Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. Tencent holds a 25 percent stake in Vantage, with creative and leadership decisions reportedly handled by Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot, son of CEO Yves. The restructuring was sold as giving teams greater ownership over their projects. In practice, it has meant consolidating around the franchises Ubisoft believes can still generate revenue and cutting everything else.

I've covered a lot of layoffs over the past two years, and what stands out about Ubisoft's situation isn't the scale of any single round. It's the relentlessness. Each wave is presented as a necessary step toward a leaner, more focused company, but the cumulative effect is a publisher that has been in a near-constant state of contraction since the start of the year. Studios that spent years building engine technology or co-developing major titles are being erased from the org chart in quarterly intervals. If you're an employee at one of Ubisoft's remaining smaller offices, it's hard to imagine feeling secure right now.

The timing is hard to ignore, too. The same week these cuts were announced, Ubisoft was pushing a deep dive into Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, its upcoming remake launching July 9 on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. Darby McDevitt was talking on his SoundCloud and in interviews about adding new cutscenes to flesh out Edward Kenway's story. It's a genuine creative effort, and the people working on it deserve recognition. But the contrast between the marketing push and the internal reality is stark. Ubisoft is simultaneously selling nostalgia for its golden era and dismantling the support infrastructure that helped build it.

The 380 jobs reportedly at risk here bring the total number of Ubisoft positions affected in 2026 well past 500, and the year isn't over. Solidarity to every worker caught in this.