Ubisoft Shuts Down Assassin's Creed: Rebellion Developer Halifax Studio Just Weeks After It Unionized

Ubisoft has unopen down its Halifax Studio, conscionable weeks aft 61 of its 71 workers voted to unionize.

The steadfast shared this quality successful a connection to IGN today, confirming that 71 positions had been impacted and claiming this determination was portion of its wider two-year effort company-wide to "streamline operations, amended efficiency, and trim costs." "We are committed to supporting each impacted squad members during this modulation with resources, including broad severance packages and further vocation assistance," the institution added.

This comes 3 weeks aft 61 of Ubisoft Halifax's employees voted to unionize with the Game & Media Workers Guild of Canada, which is itself portion of CWA (Communications Workers of America) successful Canada. The national was officially certified six months aft employees announced their intentions to unionize, and aft 74% of eligible employees consisting of producers, programmers, designers, artists, researchers, and investigating voted successful favor. It marked the archetypal Ubisoft national successful North America.

Ubisoft has claimed that the closure of Ubisoft Halifax is unrelated to the union, and is alternatively a portion of its larger restructuring and cost-saving efforts, arsenic good arsenic declining revenues from Assassin's Creed: Rebellion, which volition besides beryllium winding down operations arsenic portion of this decision. The steadfast has been undergoing important cuts, laying disconnected employees successful batches implicit the past fewer years, shutting down studios, and canceling aggregate projects amid a bid of disappointing releases and falling revenues. Last year, Ubisoft turned extracurricular the institution for assistance, creating a caller concern entity to negociate Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six with a 25% involvement from Tencent.

IGN reached retired to Ubisoft Workers of Canada: Halifax and CWA for comment, and received the following: "We're devastated that this is happening, particularly truthful soon aft we unionized. We're looking into each avenues to combat for the rights of our members."

Ubisoft Halifax began arsenic a subdivision of Longtail Studios, which was founded successful New York City successful 2003 by Ubisoft co-founder Gérard Guillemot, with branches successful Quebec and Halifax being added successful aboriginal years. It was best-known for its enactment connected the Rocksmith series, arsenic good arsenic assorted aboriginal mobile and Nintendo DS games. In 2015, Ubisoft acquired Longtail and renamed it Ubisoft Halifax, putting it to enactment connected mobile games specified arsenic Assassin's Creed Rebellion and Rainbow Six Mobile.

Two years ago, we told the communicative of a 2008-2009 unionization thrust that took spot astatine the Quebec Longtail workplace that was yet unsuccessful owed to what our sources claimed were reasonably unfastened union-busting efforts by its management, including wide layoffs attributed to economical conditions. Both Longtail Halifax and Quebec were yet folded into Ubisoft successful consequent years.

Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].