Ubisoft is starting 2026 on a sour note: it’s closing a Canadian team whose staff unionized just days ago. Ubisoft Halifax is being shut down, and 71 people are losing their jobs.

2026 has barely gotten underway, and we already have the first major story about layoffs at a big-name developer. Ubisoft has announced the immediate shutdown of Ubisoft Halifax, the Canada-based studio that built mobile games tied to Rainbow Six and Assassin’s Creed, a move that will eliminate 71 positions. What makes the timing even more striking is that Ubisoft Halifax had been in the headlines only days earlier after a large portion of its workforce successfully unionized, joining the Game & Media Workers Guild of Canada, Local 30111.

Ubisoft confirmed the decision in a statement, insisting the closure had been decided “long before” Halifax employees organized under the Canadian union’s banner. Even so, management said it would “fully respect” the staff’s effort to unionize; the move involved roughly 60 developers and, as a reminder, was officially certified on December 18, 2025.

“Over the past 24 months, Ubisoft has implemented company-wide measures to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs” – a spokesperson told VGC. “As part of this, Ubisoft has made the difficult decision to close its Halifax studio.” The statement confirms that 71 people are affected and says Ubisoft will provide resources, severance packages, and support for those losing their jobs as a result.

Ubisoft Halifax has a long history behind it. The studio was originally founded as Longtail Studios and built a niche by releasing mobile titles. That path eventually led the team to collaborate with Ubisoft on projects such as Rocksmith 2014. In 2015, the makers of Assassin’s Creed acquired the company, folded it into their smartphone games division, and tasked its staff with developing games based on the publisher’s flagship IPs.

Since then, Ubisoft Halifax has worked on free-to-play experiences like Assassin’s Creed Rebellion, which brings major characters from the Ubisoft universe together in a single mobile game, and Rainbow Six Mobile. Today’s announcement, however, closes the book on more than a decade in the smartphone space, and it stands as the first layoff wave hitting a major video game company in 2026.

Source: 3djuegos