Ubisoft asks Massive employees if they want to leave voluntarily

Ubisoft wants to cut jobs at the Swedish development studio Massive Entertainment. The studio informed employees about a departure program on X: those who leave voluntarily will receive a package of financial severance and career support.

They want to strengthen the focus on core brands, Massive writes in the statement published on X. "To make this transition responsible, we have introduced a voluntary career transition program that offers eligible team members the opportunity to take their next career step on their own terms."

It is unclear whether Ubisoft will issue further dismissals after the voluntary round. In the future, Massive Entertainment is to focus primarily on the "The Division" series and further develop the in-house Snowdrop engine. The studio recently produced two financial flops with "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora" and "Star Wars Outlaws", but is considered particularly technically adept. The Snowdrop engine developed by Massive also powers games from some other Ubisoft studios.

Layoffs also at RedLynx

Massive Entertainment is not part of the recently launched Ubisoft subsidiary Vantage Studios, which is intended to bundle development resources and the popular brands "Assassin's Creed", "Far Cry", and "Rainbow Six". The new venture is accompanied by investments from the Chinese tech group Tencent, which is investing 1.16 billion euros in the new business unit.

Layoffs are also occurring at another Ubisoft studio that was not included in the Vantage umbrella: at the Finnish studio RedLynx, best known for the "Trials" series, jobs are also to be cut. RedLynx announced this on Instagram. In addition, the studio is to produce only mobile games in the future.

(dahe)