‘We’re Next to Go’ – Why Ubisoft’s ‘Creative Network’ Employees Fear Imminent Layoffs

Last week, Ubisoft announced a major overhaul, cancelling six games, postponing seven others, and closing two development studios. Following the announcement, the company’s stock price plummeted to a 15-year low, falling by 95% from its highest value.

The company revealed a new structure called ‘Creative Houses’ to better organize its popular games and brands. These houses will group content into five different categories based on genre and franchise. Each house will operate somewhat independently, with its own leaders who will be in charge of developing the brand, planning content, and guiding the creative vision for its specific games.

A network of specialized studios will support these core development teams, offering help with technical issues, quality assurance, and other aspects of game creation. Ubisoft believes this new structure will lead to more efficient game development and allow them to share resources across all their games.

Another recent change at the publisher has left employees feeling worried. Some believe it’s a step towards selling off valuable content, while others think it’s designed to attract investment and create partnerships. However, most don’t see this as a positive change, as they feel the same leadership who caused the company’s current problems are still in control.

Creative Network Employees Are Worried

Many Ubisoft employees are understandably frustrated, confused, and anxious about the company’s future. Ubisoft is implementing a final round of cost cuts, aiming to save 200 million euros by March 2028, which could lead to significant job losses. Employees within Ubisoft’s new ‘Creative Network’ are particularly concerned, feeling that the restructuring unfairly targets their division and makes them vulnerable to layoffs.

Although Ubisoft hasn’t publicly announced details, they’ve already planned which studios will belong to each of its Creative Houses and the larger Creative Network – currently involving about 20 studios. However, internally, they haven’t yet finalized how these studios will actually support the Creative Houses.

TopMob has been sent documentation outlining which Ubisoft Studios will go to which Creative House.

Creative House 1 (Vantage Studios)

Games – Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six

Studios – Barcelona, Montreal Vantage, Quedec, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Sofia

Creative House 2

Games – Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, The Division, Avatar

Studios – Paris (Ghost Recon), Massive, Montreal CH2, Toronto

The game Avatar wasn’t mentioned in official releases. When TopMob asked Ubisoft about its future, a spokesperson said that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is still being actively developed by internal teams.

Creative House 3

Games – Brawlhalla, For Honor, Riders Republic, Skull & Bones, The Crew

Studios – Blue Mammoth Games, Ivory Tower, Montreal CH3

Creative House 4

Games – Anno, Beyond Good and Evil, Might & Magic, Prince of Persia, Rayman, Trackmania

Studios – Mainz, Milan, Montepellier, Montreal CH4, Nadeo

Creative House 5

Here’s a list of games and the studios that create them: Games include Growtopia, various Hasbro Games, Howrse, Hungry Shark, Invincible: Guarding the Glode, Just Dance, and UNO. The studios behind these and other games are Abu Dhabi, Barcelona Mobile, Ketchapp, Kolibrio Games, Ubisoft Mobile Games, and Ubisoft Paris Mobile, as well as studios based in Paris (for Just Dance).

Ubisoft is working on four new game franchises that haven’t been revealed yet. These games will be developed by one of three internal teams, depending on the game’s style and subject matter.

Creative Network

The following studios are all within the Creative Network:

Annecy
Belgrade
Berlin
Bordeaux
Bucharest
Chengdu
Da Nang
Dusseldorf
Kyiv
Odesa
Warsaw
Manila
Paris
Pune
Red Storm
RedLynx
Reflections
Shanghai
Singapore
Winnipeg

Darker Days to Come

Even with a promising lineup of future games and franchises, Ubisoft still seems to be facing difficult times. While the company officially expects cost-cutting measures to end in March 2028, it feels like their unpredictable journey is far from over.

Ubisoft recently announced it will eliminate 200 positions at its Paris office. This news came even before the company revealed plans for further layoffs expected in February. In response, French Ubisoft unions are planning a strike from February 10th to 12th.

Before the expected announcement of further layoffs in February, Ubisoft has revealed plans to eliminate 200 positions at its Paris office. This decision, following years of poor management, will unfortunately impact the developers most significantly. French Ubisoft unions have already expressed their concerns.

If you’re a current or past employee and want to share your thoughts on what’s happening, or tell us your experience, you can reach me securely and anonymously at [email protected]

Written by

Tom Henderson

Editor-in-Chief

Tom Henderson is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of TopMob, a popular independent video game website. Outside of work, he enjoys playing first-person shooter games like Call of Duty.

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2026-01-27 17:49