French game publisher Ubisoft whose share price is down more than 40% over the last 12 months has announced reductions to its employee strength across several key studios.
Analysts have indicated that the founding Guillemot family and shareholder Tencent Holdings are believed to be considering taking Ubisoft private.
A total of 185 jobs will be axed in the latest round of redundancies, and around 100 of these will impact two UK studios – Leamington and Reflections.
The remaining job cuts will affect employees at Ubisoft Düsseldorf and Ubisoft Stockholm following “targeted restructuring” across the company as it aims to “prioritise projects and reduce costs.”
“As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritise projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm, and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site,” a Ubisoft spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz.
Ubisoft added that a “small number” of Leamington staff will move onto remote contracts.
Late last year, dozens of video game developers in Sydney were reported to have been laid off after Ubisoft confirmed it would shut down a free-to-play first-person shooter game previously described as a “Call of Duty killer”.
That decision resulted in its San Francisco and Osaka studios closing, and its Sydney production team downsized, with nearly 300 job losses reported, including around 70 at its Sydney division in Ultimo, reported The North West Star.
Ubisoft has pushed the release of its Assassin’s Creed Shadows to March 20. It follows repeated delays after the game was initially planned to debut in November last year, and then later rescheduled to February this year.
