Ubisoft has announced that their Halifax location in Canada has been shut down as of Wednesday. A company-wide email was sent out to employees, detailing that the location was being closed an effort to cut costs and for internal restructuring efforts. This news comes as a shock to both the employees and other video game insiders as this news came weeks after the Halifax team unionized, becoming the first for a North American Ubisoft location.
The Ubisoft Halifax team was best known for Assassin’s Creed Rebellion, a spinoff of the Assassin’s Creed franchise that was a free-to-play, mobile game that has been operational since 2018 with regular updates. Some fans are speculating that the move to shut down the Halifax location was a response to the team unionizing as there was no signs of downsizing on the horizon. A comment made to VGC, the shutdown was completely unrelated: “Over the past 24 months, Ubisoft has undertaken company-wide actions to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs,” a spokesperson told VGC. “As part of this, Ubisoft has made the difficult decision to close its Halifax studio. 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.”
CWA Canada has released a statement to Game Developer in response to the location closing:
“Today’s news is devastating,” said CWA Canada president, Carmel Smyth. “We will pursue every legal recourse to ensure that the rights of these workers are respected and not infringed in any way.”
The timing of the studio’s closure has the CWA Canada team also speculating if the closure was more than just a “coincidence”: “It added that Ubisoft Halifax has been a successful operation for over a decade and noted that, in Canada, it is unlawful for a business to be closed because its workers chose to unionize.”
Layoffs has been a hot topic over the last few years in the video game industry as more companies are choosing to reduce their workforce for various reasons, whether to automate their workflows through AI or to save on labor costs. Many of those in the industry will be watching this unfold.