Ubisoft has fired 185 employees and closed a studio in a recently announced restructuring plan for a major game distribution company.

Today, Ubisoft, famous for the Assassin's Creed series, last year's Star Wars: The Outlaws and Avatar: Pandora's Border, announced that it will close a studio and cut staff as part of the restructuring plan.Ubisoft Leamington Studio (formerly FreeStyleGames, who developed the "DJ Heroes" series) became the target of being closed in this announcement.In addition, Ubisoft Dusseldorf Studios, Ubisoft Stockholm Studios and Ubisoft Reflections Studios will also lay off employees, with a total of 185 people losing their jobs.

"As part of prioritizing screening projects and cutting costs to ensure Ubisoft's long-term stable development, we announced a targeted restructuring of the above studios, including the closure of Ubisoft Leamington Studios," Ubisoft said in a statement to the media.Regarding the layoffs, Ubisoft added: “We deeply appreciate their contributions and are committed to supporting this transition period.” This series of actions takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing turbulence of Ubisoft’s outlook for the coming months.

Earlier this month, Ubisoft CEO Yves Giyomo held a conference call with management, explaining that the company will take "decisive measures to reshape itself, improve efficiency and maximize value", which is essentially strengthening the use of various means.Attraction of investors or acquirers.There are rumors that investors Tencent may further intervene and even consider establishing a new joint venture with some of Ubisoft's core assets.

Ubisoft's dilemma last year was mainly due to its performance as expected by its main game:

- "Blue Sea Black Sail" released for the first time in E3 in 2017 was released in 2024 after multiple delays. The sales volume and media reviews did not meet expectations

- Although the free first-person shooter "Unruly League" started well, Ubisoft announced in December that the game will be permanently discontinued in June this year.

- "Star Wars: The Extra-law" and "Avatar: Pandora's Border" also performed weakly

Now the company's last hope is entrusted to "Assassin's Creed: Shadow".The game has been postponed twice and was originally scheduled to be released in November 2024, but it is now changed to March 2025.Although the recent preview response has been flat, this does not necessarily mean that the game sales are poor. The key is whether it can reverse Ubisoft's current development trajectory.

Regardless of the outcome, the interests of Ubisoft executives and investors are likely to not be affected.Ubisoft may be acquired by other companies (possibly Tencent or other capital) in a year.Ultimately, what we should pay more attention to is whether those employees affected by this "restructuring" and those who may face similar situations in the future can find more stable jobs in the gaming industry.