According to GameSpot, Ubisoft has proposed cutting up to 200 jobs at its French headquarters, which represents about 18% of the staff there. This follows the company’s major restructuring announcement from last week, where it split its development teams into five “creative houses.” The proposal involves a French legal mechanism called a Rupture Conventionnelle Collective (RCC), a voluntary mutual termination agreement that requires union negotiation and government validation. The company cited disappointing game sales, declining revenues, and a falling stock price as reasons for the broader reset, which has already led to six game cancellations and seven project delays. One of the canceled games confirmed was The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake, which was previously slated for release by March 2026.
The Business Reset Behind The Cuts
So here’s the thing: this isn’t just a random cost-cutting exercise. It’s the direct, messy fallout from that huge strategic pivot Ubisoft announced just last week. They’re basically tearing up the old playbook because it stopped working. Disappointing sales, declining revenue, a stock price in the dumps—the writing was on the wall. Splitting into those five “creative houses” is a bet on focus, hoping smaller, franchise-specific teams can be more agile and hit the mark more often. But you can’t just reshuffle the org chart and call it a day. A new operating model like that inevitably leaves some roles redundant or misaligned. That’s where these 200 proposed cuts come in. It’s the painful administrative cleanup after the big strategic decision.
The French Factor And What Happens Next
Now, this is key: this proposal is exclusively for Ubisoft International employees under French contracts. That’s why they’re using the RCC process, a specific French labor mechanism. It’s not a simple layoff. It’s a “mutual termination” negotiation, which is a much more regulated and collaborative (in theory) process with unions and authorities. That means nothing is final yet. The number could change, the terms could change. But it signals a very intentional pruning at the very heart of the company—its historic headquarters. It shows they’re willing to take this restructuring right to their home turf, not just shutter distant studios. The message is: no one is immune from this reset.
A Pattern Of Pressure
Let’s be real, this has been a long time coming. Ubisoft has been in a tricky spot for a while, trying to find its footing in a post-pandemic, live-service obsessed market. They’ll celebrate a win like Assassin’s Creed Shadows hitting 5 million players, but then have to immediately confront the reality that overall revenues are still declining. It’s a classic case of big franchises not being quite big enough to carry the entire weight of a sprawling, arguably bloated, corporation. Canceling six games and delaying seven others last week was the first, dramatic cost-saving measure. Proposing to cut 200 HQ jobs is the next logical, if brutal, step. They’re trying to shrink their way back to profitability and focus. Will it work? That’s the billion-dollar question. Streamlining operations is one thing, but you still need to make games people actually want to buy. And right now, the market seems pretty skeptical.
