Following the official announcement of XDefiant’s closure, new rumors have emerged up to what extent this closure will hurt Ubisoft’s employees.
But first, we will go straight to Ubisoft and what they have officially confirmed Ubisoft shared a private email to employees, confirming some of these planned layoffs. To quote the email directly:
“Unfortunately, the discontinuation of XDefiant brings difficult consequences for the teams working on this game.
Even if almost half of the XDefiant team worldwide will be transitioning to other roles within Ubisoft, this decision also leads to the closing of our San Francisco and Osaka production studios and to the ramp down of our Sydney production site, with 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney.
To those team members leaving Ubisoft, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition.”
This disclosure matches up with some rumors shared by Insider Gaming. Their report claims that some staff have already been notified about severance, and that a second wave of layoffs is coming this February.
Insider Gaming reported that 170 to 180 people would be laid off, but Stephen Totilo shared an update on this:
“Correction/Update: Cuts expected to be closer to 277, not 177.
Ubisoft SF production studio closing; Ubisoft SF business office remaining open
Sydney ramp-down will be for the production team there.”
As we pointed out in our first report on XDefiant’s closure, this was a calculated decision for an Ubisoft that is in crisis. As the Guillemots navigate discontent from their investors on their managerial performance, they must all surely have heard the recent news that Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has himself just been ousted from the company. So there’s a precedent going right now that is not favorable for the Guillemots.
To get Ubisoft out of the red, we already knew that the company would have to cancel some games. However, we were also cognizant that the current business environment has been so rough that both Microsoft and Sony had a large amount of layoffs, among other industry giants.
When we point out that these layoffs and studio closures were predictable, that is not to disparage or undermine the employees and families affected. But this is a warning, that the company is likely to have even more layoffs and studio closures in the future.
As unsavory as it sounds, it is now easier to understand why some of those investors called for restructuring in the company back in September. What nobody wants to happen is for all of these layoffs to lead to Ubisoft itself going under completely. If Ubisoft has to continue to bleed workers, the least they could do is prepare proper plans for survival. Because if we have to go back to Intel, the company may still be around, but it has already bled an unfathomable amount of workers, making it a considerably diminished company. That is what Ubisoft could become if they don’t right the ship soon enough.
