Today, Ubisoft announced that Massive Entertainment, developers of the hit shooter series The Division, would be hit with layoffs.
The staff reduction comes in the form of a voluntary buyout, or as Ubisoft referred to in its statement on X/Twitter (seen below), a voluntary career transition program. The program includes a comprehensive package, which will also feature financial and career assistance in their career moving forward.
It is important to note that the statement implies that it will only be for “eligible team members,” insinuating that not all of the layoffs will even have the option of a voluntary buyout. You can read the post in full below:
Despite the layoffs, Ubisoft stated that the development of Massive Entertainment’s The Division series is still moving forward. This means the roadmap for The Division 2, The Division 2: Survivors, The Division Resurgence, and The Division 3 will continue to be developed on schedule.
While the above statement does mention that the team is fully committed to working on The Division series, nothing was stated regarding the future of the other two current Massive Entertainment titles: Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
Though both the above titles are tied to big licenses, both received mixed receptions upon their release and after. In October 2024, Ubisoft even went as far as to report that sales for Star Wars Outlaws underperformed expectations.
This isn’t the first time in recent memory that Ubisoft has been apart of layoffs. In November 2023, Ubisoft laid off 124 employees from its VFX and IT teams. In March 2024, Ubisoft laid off 45 employees from its publishing teams. Another 45 employees were cut between its San Francisco and Cary, North Carolina offices in August 2024.
In January 2025, Ubisoft closed its entire studio in Leamington, UK, while also cutting jobs at three other locations, affecting the jobs of about 185 employees across multiple departments. There is no telling as to if this will be the last layoffs to hit this year, weather it be Ubisoft or the industry as a whole.
