French video game company Ubisoft, which published popular franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, has laid off about 124 employees as part of a corporate restructuring and reorganisation effort.
The job cuts mainly impacted workers in the visual effects studio and global IT team, reports The Verge.
According to Ubisoft spokesperson Antoine Leduc-Labelle, 98 people laid-off are based in Canada, making up less than 2 per cent of the company’s workforce in the country.
“Over the past few months, every team within Ubisoft has been exploring ways to streamline our operations and enhance our collective efficiency so that we are better positioned for success in the long term. These are not decisions taken lightly,” Leduc-Labelle was quoted as saying.
Affected employees in Canada will get severance packages, extended benefits, and career assistance, the report said.
Ubisoft has been on a hiring spree over the last year, cutting off over 1,000 individuals across its many global divisions, according to its most recent earnings report.
This has resulted in the cancellation of various games, like the arena battler Project Q, among others.
Despite the layoffs, the company employs over 19,000 workers globally. In September, Fortnite game developer Epic Games announced to lay off 16 per cent of its employees, impacting nearly 870 people. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney sent an email to Epic employees, saying the company is laying off around 16 per cent of Epic staff.
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