Happy New Year? Perhaps not if you’re a Ubisoft employee.
In Wednesday’s press release, Ubisoft announced a “major reorganisation” of the company planned for 2026, informed by a prior quarter that indicated a “never-before-seen” level of competition.
The publisher aims to reclaim their creative leadership and build greater value for players and shareholders alike.
Ubisoft confirmed that they will close at least two studios, including its Halifax studio – a decision that’s definitely unrelated to the recent unionisation of over 80% of Halifax employees.
The cancellation of six games were also announced, including the awaited Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake; whilst another seven additional games were delayed to ensure “enhanced quality benchmarks” are achieved – one of which fans suspect to be the remastered Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag.
Going forward, Ubisoft wants to focus primarily on what’s working best for them – open-world games and “Games as a Service” titles, as well as “including accelerated investments behind playing-facing Generative AI” (as if any of us have actually asked for this).
To streamline this approach from April 2026, Ubisoft will split into five “creative houses.”
House One has been previously identified as Vantage Studios, focusing on established franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six.
House Two is shooter-focused, co-op and competitive, and will adopt Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell.
House Three looks after Live experiences such as For Honor, Riders Republic and Skull & Bones.
House Four oversees “immersive fantasy worlds and narrative-driven universes” – the likes of Anno, Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil.
Finally, House Five will support development of casual and family-friendly games, such as Just Dance and the Hasbro games.
Ubisoft have indicated that decentralising and segmenting their creative outputs will allow for faster decision-making and an overall more sustainable level of growth over their projected three-year timeline.
Just how sustainable can a newly-fragmented production team prove in the already turbulent waters Ubisoft are wading?
Only time will tell.
