Ubisoft yesterday announced it's gutting Ubisoft Halifax, the in-house studio behind Assassin's Creed Rebellion and Rainbow Six Mobile, just weeks after the subsidiary voted to unionize, prompting a worker's group to pursue legal action.
Ubisoft announced the closure yesterday, which is said to be affecting 71 employees responsible for mobile versions of some of the company's biggest hits. The company has said this decision is unrelated to the studio's union.
The news comes three weeks after the vast majority of employees voted in favor of unionizing with the Game & Media Workers Guild of Canada and CWA (Communications Workers of America), and just one week after the union had been officially certified – the first for a North American Ubisoft team.
In a statement, Ubisoft blamed the closure on its ongoing cost-cutting strategy: "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. 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 now gotten involved too, and while it's not accusing Ubisoft of breaking the law by union-busting, the worker's group is pursuing legal action to ensure employee rights are being protected.
"Today's news is devastating," CWA Canada president Carmel Smyth told Game Developer. "We will pursue every legal recourse to ensure that the rights of these workers are respected and not infringed in any way." The CWA is also reportedly "demanding information" from the publisher to find out why exactly the studio was closed.
Ubisoft has slowly been chipping away at several of its teams as recently as late last year, when it made layoffs at Ubisoft Massive, the developer behind Star Wars Outlaws and The Division franchise.
CEO Yves Guillemot also looked outside the company for help, accepting significant investment from multimedia conglomerate Tencent to open a subsidiary called Vantage Studios, which is now in charge of major Ubisoft IP like Assassin Creed and Far Cry, confusingly.
Here's a look at every upcoming Ubisoft game.
