Ubisoft layoff: Studio behind Far Cry 5 & Tom Clancy's The Division 2 faces unsurprising closure

Another round of layoffs in the gaming industry is happening as Ubisoft is closing one of its important studios.

The video game publisher announced the closure of its Leamington studio in the UK, resulting in the layoff of 185 employees across multiple offices, including those in Düsseldorf, Stockholm, and Newcastle.

The Leamington studio, which has been a part of Ubisoft since 2017, had previously worked on projects like Far Cry 5 and Tom Clancy’s The Division 2.

The company is making these cuts as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce costs and ensure long-term stability, as told first to Eurogamer. These strings of unfortunate events follow a series of underperforming games, including Star Wars Outlaws and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

With this restructuring, Ubisoft is also downsizing its teams in Düsseldorf, Stockholm, and Newcastle.

This latest round of layoffs follows a string of financial challenges for Ubisoft, including the failure of its live-service shooter XDefiant and disappointing sales from key titles. The company’s workforce has now decreased significantly, with its headcount dropping from over 20,000 in 2022 to around 18,666 by the end of September 2024.

XDefiant, billed as the “Call of Duty killer” at launch, had a promising start. But it struggled with low player engagement and poor financial performance, especially as it faced tough competition from Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 that arrived with Xbox Game Pass. The game’s servers are also set to be decommissioned by June 3, 2025.

The past two years have been an unforgiving time in the gaming industry, with studios facing closures left and right. Ubisoft has previously reported over 1,000 job cuts between September 2023 and December 2024.