The Article

Ubisoft Has Laid Off 19 Employees At Red Storm Entertainment

Ubisoft has laid off a number of employees at its Red Storm studio, which has most recently focused on a number of VR initiatives for the publisher, as well as supporting development on titles such as XDefiant.

As reported by IGN, Ubisoft has cut 19 jobs at Red Storm, citing "ongoing, targeted restructuring and global cost-saving efforts" for its reasoning.

Ubisoft released a full statement to IGN, which reads, "Today, Ubisoft made the decision to eliminate 19 roles at Red Storm Entertainment. This step is part of our ongoing, targeted restructuring and global cost-saving efforts, and reflects the needs on the studio’s projects. While this was not an easy decision, it was a necessary one given our operational priorities. We remain committed to supporting those affected with comprehensive severance packages, extended health-care benefits, and career transition assistance. We deeply appreciate their hard work and the impact they’ve had on Ubisoft."

It is currently unclear how deep these cuts at Red Storm, which has become a VR and support studio over the last several years, go or how they will impact any ongoing projects at the team. Ubisoft PR confirmed to IGN though that this restructuring is not indicative of any larger cuts occurring at the French publisher or of its other teams.

Red Storm, which was founded in 1996 and created stalwart franchises under the Tom Clancy banner such as the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series, most recently released Assassin's Creed Nexus VR, which is exclusively available on Meta Quest 2 and above. Besides this release, which marks the long-running franchise's debut on virtual reality platforms, the studio has spent much of the last few years supporting games like XDefiant, which was shut down earlier this year, and working on a pair of canceled projects, including a canned Splinter Cell VR title and a free-to-play spin-off title in The Division series subtitled Heartland.

The former was axed back in 2022 while the latter lingered for a while longer--even being played in closed alpha tests--before being indefinitely delayed and ultimately shelved in 2024 amidst wider cuts at a tough time for the embattled publisher, which recently entered into a partnership with Tencent.