French video game company Ubisoft will reportedly eliminate about 100 employees across its three German studios in Dusseldorf, Mainz, and Berlin. Founded in the 1980s by the Guillemots, Ubisoft is behind popular video game franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Star Wars Outlaws, and many others.
Early estimates suggest around one in six workers could receive buyout proposals.
Thursday’s workforce-reduction news, first reported by Game File’s Stephen Totilo, comes just one day after Ubisoft announced it would close Trials studio RedLynx and lay off others at its satellite studio in Singapore. The company hopes to offer employee buyouts to limit involuntary departures, but did not “confirm the scale of the potential headcount cut.”
“In Germany, we initiated discussions with the Works Council last week regarding a proposed voluntary departure plan across Ubisoft Dusseldorf, Ubisoft Berlin & Ubisoft Mainz,” an Ubisoft representative told Game File. “The voluntary plan is the primary measure being proposed to support the intended organizational changes.”
The “Works Council” is a group of employee-appointed representatives that works to advance workers’ interests within an organization. The Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB), or German Trade Union Confederation, says works councils “[have] the legal right to participate in decisions which effect working conditions. This is guaranteed by law in Germany.”
Workers at Ubisoft’s German studios face significant layoffs
All three studios affected — Dusseldorf, Mainz, and Berlin — bring different skills and services to their parent company’s metaphorical table.
According to an unnamed source cited by Totilo, Dusseldorf is the “biggest of the three studios, with some 400+ workers, compared to just over 100 at the other two.”
Dusseldorf and Berlin serve as creative support studios; most recently, Berlin supported Rainbow Six Siege and Rayman Legends Retold, while Dusseldorf workers “contributed to The Settlers and Ubisoft-branded escape rooms.”
Ubisoft Mainz developed and released Anno 117: Pax Romana in November 2025.
Ubisoft workers worldwide suffer second layoff round in 48 hours
Word of Ubisoft’s German workforce reduction on Thursday follows the brand’s layoff announcement just one day earlier.
On Wednesday, Ubisoft confirmed plans to close Trials studio RedLynx in Finland and cut more than 50 workers from Ubisoft Singapore. The latter is fresh off its successful launch of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced.
“Today, we informed our teams of a proposal to close RedLynx in Finland, subject to the local change negotiation process, which would affect up to 52 positions,” Ubisoft said in a statement obtained by Eurogamer.
“At Ubisoft Singapore, 70 positions have been impacted to align the studio with upcoming production needs. The studio remains an important part of Ubisoft’s global production organisation.”
“We deeply value the contributions of both teams and recognise the impact this may have on our colleagues. We are committed to supporting our teams throughout this process and conducting it with care and respect.”
Ubisoft’s increasingly frequent layoffs and closures are part of its controversial, brand-wide restructuring plan, which kicked off in January 2025 with the help of Chinese tech brand Tencent.
The latter, a massive multinational tech conglomerate based in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, is a minority stakeholder in the pair’s Vantage Studios. The undertaking introduced “Creative Houses,” which the companies said would “enhance quality, focus, autonomy and accountability while fostering closer connections with players.”
The collaboration earned Ubisoft more than $1.1 billion and solidified Tencent’s 25 percent stake and advisory role.
Ubisoft reportedly had more than 20,729 workers in September 2022. However, thanks to several layoffs, closures, and cancellations since, that number fell to about 16,590 in March 2026.
These figures show Ubisoft has released 4,139 employees in four years — nearly one-fifth of its total personnel.
Follow Outrun Gaming on MSN for more content you love.
RELATED →
- Grand Theft Auto VI’s final trailer is here
- Surreal match-3 game Titanium Court coming to consoles, mobile devices
- Echo Weaver Review: Sci-fi Metroidvania reimagines genre with roguelike runs
