Ubisoft's death by a thousand cuts

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Welcome to our anniversary week here at The Game Business. We’re officially one! And we wouldn’t have made it this far without you. So thank you!

Last week’s discourse was dominated by Nvidia’s DLSS 5 reveal. But for me, the biggest (and saddest) story was the (sort-of) closure of the iconic Red Storm Entertainment.

Meanwhile, Krafton loses a key court case, CD Projekt posts strong results, markets react to the critical reception to Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert, and a whole lot more.

Let’s go.

Ubisoft ends development at the iconic Red Storm Entertainment

In Brief: Ubisoft’s Red Storm Entertainment will cease making video games, with 105 jobs lost. The studio will remain open, working on the Snowdrop Engine and handling some other services, including customer relations.

What You Need To Know:

Red Storm Entertainment was initially an independent studio formed in 1996 to develop games based on Tom Clancy stories. It is named after Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising novel.

The studio launched the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series.

It had been working on a spin-off game in the Tom Clancy’s The Division series, called Heartland. It was cancelled in 2024. Before that, it was developing a VR game in the Tom Clancy Splinter Cell series. That was cancelled in 2022.

Ubisoft is making numerous cuts in a bid to reduce its fixed costs by €500 million between March 2023 and March 2028.

My Take:

Ubisoft needs to change. It needs to be leaner. It needs to focus. That’s why it’s cutting studios and projects, and it’s why its building these ‘creative houses’.

But these ceaseless stories of studio closures and redundancies is putting a cloud over the business, and everyone working within it.

In January this year, Ubisoft closed its Stockholm and Halifax studios. A few weeks later, it announced plans to cut 200 jobs from its Paris division. There were also cuts at Ubisoft Abu Dhabi, RedLynx and Massive Entertainment. In February, it cut 40 jobs at Far Cry 6 and Splinter Cell developer Ubisoft Toronto. This month, it’s Red Storm.

Head back into 2025, and we had the closure of Ubisoft Leamington Spa, plus office closures and job reductions at offices in San Francisco, Osaka and Sydney. In fact, over 2025, Ubisoft reduced its headcount by 1,500 people.

Some Ubisoft employees are in open rebellion, as we saw with the strikes that took place last month. But everyone within the organization is living under a cloud, fearing every new email that comes in from HR. The term ‘death by a thousand cuts’ is a common phrase within the walls of Ubisoft’s offices.