•Following yesterday’s news that Ubisoft intends to close down Finland’s Ubisoft Redlynx and the layoffs of 70 staff at Ubisoft Singapore, more cuts have emerged affecting the publisher’s German operations. According to a report by Game File, Ubisoft aims to reduce its German workforce by around 100 employees.
The company is pursuing voluntary redundancies with buyouts rather than forced layoffs across three studios: Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Berlin and Ubisoft Mainz. A Ubisoft representative told Game File that discussions were initiated last week with the Works Council regarding a proposed voluntary departure plan.
In Germany, we initiated discussions with the Works Council last week regarding a proposed voluntary departure plan across Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Berlin and Ubisoft Mainz.
Ubisoft representative
The goal is to encourage around 100 of the roughly 600 employees spread across the three studios to offer to resign in return for a buyout. Game File’s sources said the payout would be calculated based on a person’s monthly salary multiplied by 1.5, then multiplied by the number of years they’d worked with the company.
The financial offer has yet to be finalized with the works council. A German works council, or Betriebsrat, is an elected group of employees that work with management to negotiate working conditions and voice employee views. Unlike German industry-wide unions, a works council operates at a company level.
A tangled web
Düsseldorf, Berlin and Mainz are still technically grouped under the brand of Blue Byte, formed in 1988 and responsible for legendary 1990s series like Battle Isle and Settlers. Later, Blue Byte collaborated with Anno creators Related Design, which later became known as Ubisoft Mainz.
Despite this shared branding, the studios are currently split across different internal structures. Ubisoft Mainz falls under Creative House 4, grouped with Milan, Montpellier and Paris’ Ubisoft Nadeo. Düsseldorf—by far the largest with just over 400 employees—and Berlin are instead grouped within the new “Creative Network,” a structure supporting each Creative House’s projects.
The German studios were only recently hit with 185 layoffs in 2025. While buyouts offer more than flat redundancies, it appears unlikely to be the last time Ubisoft’s leadership seeks savings in the region.
If Ubisoft hoped these moves would restore shareholder confidence, results suggest otherwise. Yesterday’s cuts saw shares fall again, dropping back under €5 for the first time in a month—more than 95 percent less than its 2018 level.
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