By cryptoadmin 
Following a string of misfires, Ubisoft is shutting down a assist studio and downsizing elsewhere, with the corporate firing round 185 staff in its newest cost-cutting measure. Ubisoft Leamington, located within the English city of Royal Leamington Spa, isn’t any extra because the writer is scuttling the 50-person studio. It's additionally shedding staff in Stockholm; Düsseldorf, Germany; and Newcastle, England (Ubisoft Reflections).
"As a part of our ongoing efforts to prioritize tasks and scale back prices that guarantee long-term stability at Ubisoft, we’ve introduced focused restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the everlasting closure of Ubisoft Leamington web site," Ubisoft informed Eurogamer in an announcement. "Sadly, this could impression 185 staff total. We’re deeply grateful for his or her contributions and are dedicated to supporting them by way of this transition."
Ubisoft purchased the Leamington studio from Activision in 2017. It was beforehand generally known as FreeStyleGames and the group was behind Guitar Hero Dwell and the DJ Hero collection. Since becoming a member of Ubisoft, the studio has assisted with improvement on the Tom Clancy's The Division video games, Star Wars Outlaws, Cranium and Bones and Far Cry 5.
Issues have been tumultuous at Ubisoft just lately, as the corporate is coping with the fallout of a number of underperforming video games, equivalent to Star Wars Outlaws, which didn't meet gross sales targets. Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown fell wanting Ubisoft's gross sales expectations too, and the corporate shifted lots of the recreation's builders to different groups. Ubisoft can be shutting down XDefiant within the coming months, with the writer shutting three studios and shedding 277 staff as a part of that call. As Eurogamer notes, Ubisoft's headcount dropped from 20,279 to 18,666 by the top of September.
Maybe aligned with these current woes, there have been quite a few studies that Ubisoft is searching for a purchaser or that it could create a three way partnership with Tencent with a few of its property included. The corporate mentioned earlier this month (PDF) that it will "proceed to drive vital price reductions" and it had "appointed main advisors to evaluate and pursue numerous transformational strategic and capitalistic choices to extract the very best worth for stakeholders."
Suffice to say, there's lots driving on the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows. Murderer's Creed has been a reliably bankable collection for Ubisoft and it's arguably the corporate's flagship franchise at this level. Based mostly on my early impressions, the sport seems adequate and performs properly sufficient for what the corporate wants it to do, and it appears to cater to each long-standing followers and collection newcomers. There's an opportunity that Shadows could possibly be profitable for the corporate, but it surely's a mighty tall order for a single recreation to proper a ship that's as massive and unsteady as Ubisoft.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-shuts-down-a-support-studio-and-lays-off-185-workers-191048262.html?src=rss