Original: The layoffs across the video game industry are getting started early in 2026. Ubisoft has announced the closure of Ubisoft Halifax.
The closure will see 71 people lose their jobs.
The news of the studio’s shutdown comes just days after it was announced that 61 of the studio’s employees joined the Game & Media Workers Guild of Canada, Local 30111. The certification for the union came on December 18, 2025, and was branded as the Ubisoft Workers of Canada, Halifax.
In a statement, Ubisoft says that decision comes after two years of “company-wide actions to streamline operations”.
“Over the past 24 months, Ubisoft has undertaken company-wide actions to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs,” the company said. “As part of this, Ubisoft has made the difficult decision to close its Halifax studio. 71 positions will be affected.
“We are committed to supporting all impacted team members during this transition with resources, including comprehensive severance packages and additional career assistance.”
The decision, Ubisoft claims, was made “well before” the staff unionized. Ubisoft added that it respected its employees right to join a union. Insider Gaming has reached out for a statement from members of the Union. Should that be received, it will be added to this story.
Prior to its closure, Ubisoft Halifax was working on mobile games for Rainbow Six and Assassin’s Creed.
Halifax is one of the cheapest places globally to rent office space and employ talented software developers with a CS degree. I am skeptical that it was on the chopping block before now.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.
Rules:
1: All Lemmy rules apply
2: Do not post low effort posts
3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff
4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.
5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)
6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist
7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed
Halifax is one of the cheapest places globally to rent office space and employ talented software developers with a CS degree. I am skeptical that it was on the chopping block before now.