Ubisoft Barcelona developers who worked on the underwater side-missions for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced are reportedly facing layoffs, a situation that has drawn criticism as the game achieves significant commercial success, selling approximately 2 million copies within its first 24 hours of release. This news comes as part of a wider downsizing effort at Ubisoft, which is letting go of 380 staff across multiple global offices, including Winnipeg and Belgrade, which are slated for complete closure.
The Barcelona studio has a history of providing support for larger Ubisoft projects, having previously contributed to titles such as games in the Rabbids series and Star Trek: Bridge Crew. For Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, the team was responsible for developing the game's diving sequences, a feature that was also present in the original Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
Manel Cota, a tech and gameplay animator at Ubisoft Barcelona, expressed his disappointment on social media, stating that the team responsible for the underwater levels is "being fired right now because Ubisoft thinks that's what we deserve." Similarly, Isabel Codina García, a quality assurance lead at the studio, described the situation as "bittersweet," noting that a significant portion of the Barcelona team had been working on the game for over two years. She revealed that the entire Assassin's Creed team at Ubisoft Barcelona was informed of a collective redundancy plan just two weeks before the game's launch.
Workers at the Barcelona studio have initiated a strike, which is expected to continue until July 16, protesting the planned layoffs. A flyer circulating from CGT Catalunya indicates that 51 staff members at the Barcelona studio are set to lose their jobs. The flyer conveys a message of betrayal, stating, "After years of dedication to our team, the company has turned its back on us. We will never see the fruits of our labor, and the reward for our hard work will be the loss of our jobs."
Ubisoft's stated intention is for the Barcelona team to shift its focus exclusively to the Rainbow Six franchise as part of ongoing organizational adjustments. These changes follow a series of previous layoffs and studio closures initiated by Ubisoft since 2022. In March, 105 staff members departed from the Tom Clancy game studio Red Storm Entertainment, contributing to its permanent downsizing. Earlier in 2026, Ubisoft canceled six games, including the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, and closed Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Halifax. Layoffs also affected offices in Abu Dhabi, the Trials studio RedLynx, and Massive Entertainment, the developer behind Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
Further workforce reductions include the elimination of 200 jobs at Ubisoft's Paris headquarters in January, which led to protests. In February, after 40 jobs were cut from Ubisoft Toronto, the company moved to reassure fans that its Splinter Cell remake remained in development.