Ubisoft has started its new year with the closure of its Canada-based studio Ubisoft Halifax. According to a company spokesperson, more than 70 positions are impacted as part of cost-cutting and restructuring measures.
Staff were informed about the closure on Wednesday. Here's the official comment (via VGC):
“Over the past 24 months, Ubisoft has undertaken company-wide actions to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. As part of this, Ubisoft has made the difficult decision to close its Halifax studio.
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“71 positions will be affected. We are committed to supporting all impacted team members during this transition with resources, including comprehensive severance packages and additional career assistance.”
The studio was mostly focused on mobile development, but also assisted other Ubisoft teams and had worked on major Ubisoft IP including Rainbow Six and Assassin's Creed.
This closure has taken place a month after about 60 workers at Ubisoft Halifax formed a union, signing up to the "Game & Media Workers Guild of Canada". Ubisoft says the decision to close the studio was made "well before" this, and respects rights of employees to unionise.
The union has also issued a response saying it will "pursue every legal recourse" to defend union members impacted by the closure.
In the past year, Ubisoft opened a new subsidiary backed by Tencent to focus on Assassin's Creed and other IP. It's been celebrating the 30th anniversary of Rayman, and also launched Assassin's Creed Shadows on Switch 2 in December last year. Although this version didn't get off to the best start, updates have now been rolled out to resolve crashes and stability issues.