Ubisoft has closed two more of its studios, reportedly, as its campaign to restructure its studios continues. This time, the targets are its Winnipeg and Belgrade studios, which provided support on several major projects. It’s also laying off staff at its Barcelona offices and global publishing divisions, with total number of jobs lost allegedly sitting at 380.
Ubisoft reportedly informed staff in an internal meeting on Wednesday of the changes. Winnipeg was primarily responsible for developing Ubisoft’s proprietary engines, while Belgrade worked on projects such as the recently announced Black Flag Resynced. Barcelona is staying open, but is supposedly going to transition to work primarily on Rainbow Six Siege.
This is the latest chapter in Ubisoft’s ongoing restructure of its multiple studios. The company last year revealed its intention to reorganize under a new studio structure called Creative Houses, each “House” having a specific kind of IP on which it works. Barcelona was already filed under Vantage Studios, a.k.a. Creative House 1, while Winnipeg and Belgrade were under the broad Creative Network umbrella.
According to a report from Insider Gaming, Ubisoft’s internal memo said it is “evolving its organization to simplify how it operates, reduce its cost base. and strengthen the company for the long term.” Earlier this year, Ubisoft shut down its Halifax and Stockholm studios, as part of the same apparent mandate to slim down.