Ubisoft closed its Winnipeg studio on June 10, laying off approximately 65 employees and leaving Rainbow Six Mobile without a dedicated core team less than four months after the game launched globally. The closure is the latest development in Ubisoft's sixth restructuring round of 2026, a wave that also shuttered the Belgrade studio, cut 51 jobs at Barcelona, and removed 170 developers from Rainbow Six-related projects at Ubisoft Montréal. Across all affected locations, up to 380 employees could be impacted.
Winnipeg Studio Closed After Seven Years: What the 65 Departing Staff Built
When Ubisoft announced its Winnipeg office in 2018 and formally opened it the following year, it made a public commitment to the province of Manitoba: a $264 million CAD investment and a workforce target of 300 employees by 2030. The studio never reached that target. It spent seven years as a technology hub for Ubisoft's proprietary Anvil and Snowdrop engines — contributing to titles including Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, and Rainbow Six Siege — before management called an all-staff meeting on June 10 to announce the closure.
Approximately 50 of the studio's 65 employees had been working on Rainbow Six Mobile specifically, according to Pocket Gamer. Former employees posted confirmation of the closure on LinkedIn within hours; one programmer described it as "the culminating moment" of a career spanning Rainbow Six Siege and XDefiant.
Rainbow Six Siege Developers Stripped From Core Team at Montréal
Simultaneously with the studio closures, Ubisoft Montréal moved 120 developers — roughly 12 percent of the Siege team — off the mainline game and onto other projects within the company. A further 50 people at Montréal were moved off Rainbow Six Mobile. Insider Gaming, which first reported these moves, confirmed via sources that these reassignments are not currently classified as layoffs. Ubisoft declined to specify which projects the displaced developers would join.
In a statement provided to Insider Gaming, the company said: "Rainbow Six Siege remains a strong brand. As projects move through different stages of development and live operations, it is normal practice to adjust team size and resource allocation based on evolving priorities and operational needs." That framing — "evolving priorities" — masks the scale: 170 people pulled from a single franchise in a single day, with no announced destination.
Ubisoft Barcelona Loses 28 Percent of Workforce, Narrows to Siege Alone
Ubisoft Barcelona was also restructured June 10. An internal email from Vantage Studios co-CEOs Charlie Guillemot and Christophe Derennes confirmed 51 staff will be cut — representing approximately 28 percent of the studio's total workforce, according to a Ubisoft Paris employee who posted the figure on LinkedIn. The studio, which previously contributed to Assassin's Creed, The Division, Ghost Recon, and Rabbids, will now focus exclusively on Rainbow Six Siege. The internal memo framed the move as a way to "refocus our resources and expertise on our priorities" — language identical to prior Ubisoft restructuring announcements.
Ubisoft Layoffs 2026: Six Rounds in Six Months, 680 Jobs Gone
Wednesday's closures mark Ubisoft's sixth layoff event of a calendar year not yet half over. The company cut 71 jobs in Halifax in January — a closure that followed employees voting to unionize, though Ubisoft maintained the two events were unrelated. Stockholm and Massive Entertainment lost more than 50 jobs in January. Toronto lost 40 and Abu Dhabi lost 29 in February. Red Storm Entertainment, which created the original Rainbow Six games, was stripped of 105 employees in March and converted from a development studio into a support function. Combined with the June 10 actions, approximately 680 Ubisoft jobs have been eliminated or placed at risk in 2026 alone.
Behind those cuts is a financial crisis Ubisoft confirmed in full on May 20: a record €1.3 billion operating loss for fiscal year 2025–26, on revenue that fell 21.8 percent year over year to €1.4 billion. The company ended the year with approximately 16,600 employees — down from more than 20,000 in 2023. It is now targeting a further reduction in fixed costs to €1.25 billion by March 2028, and has acknowledged that fiscal year 2026–27 will be another loss-making year before a projected return to profitability in 2027–28.
What Tencent's Stake in Rainbow Six Means Right Now
Rainbow Six falls within Vantage Studios, the Ubisoft subsidiary that completed a €1.16 billion investment from Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent in November 2025. Tencent holds a 26.32 percent economic interest in Vantage — not a controlling stake; Ubisoft retains exclusive operational control. The investment was designed to reduce Ubisoft's debt and fund the transformation of its flagship franchises. The June 10 restructuring — signed by the two co-CEOs Guillemot and Derennes who lead Vantage Studios — suggests that debt reduction and cost-cutting are outpacing any new investment in the franchises the deal was meant to accelerate.
What Ubisoft Layoffs Mean for Rainbow Six Mobile Players
For players, the stakes are direct and financial. Rainbow Six Mobile is a free-to-play game whose business model depends entirely on continuous content delivery — seasonal updates, new operators, limited-time events, and the in-app purchase economy that funds them. Players who have already spent money on in-game items, season passes, or cosmetic bundles did so under the implicit expectation of ongoing development. There is no legal obligation for Ubisoft to refund those purchases if the game enters maintenance mode or is eventually discontinued.
The game launched internationally on February 23, 2026 — less than four months ago. Its dedicated support studio has already been closed. Its Montréal-based team has already been reduced. Ubisoft has not confirmed any plans to discontinue Siege Mobile, and the game continues to operate; new content in the form of Operation Gray Phantom was released just one week before the closures were announced. But a game that promises "fresh seasonal updates released every month" is a materially different promise when 50 of the engineers who built it have been laid off and 50 more have been moved to undisclosed projects.
For Ubisoft, the June 10 decisions represent a bet that concentrating Rainbow Six development at a stripped-down Montréal and a refocused Barcelona can sustain a franchise that millions of players depend on for ongoing live-service engagement. Whether that bet holds — or whether it marks the beginning of a managed wind-down of one of gaming's most durable tactical shooters — will become clear in the update cadence of the months ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rainbow Six Mobile shutting down?
Ubisoft has not announced plans to shut down Rainbow Six Mobile. As of June 2026, the game remains active and released new content — Operation Gray Phantom — on June 4. However, Ubisoft closed its Winnipeg studio on June 10, which employed approximately 50 of the game's dedicated developers, while moving a further 50 Montréal-based Siege Mobile staff to unspecified projects, raising serious questions about the game's long-term content support.
How many Ubisoft employees were laid off in 2026?
Approximately 680 Ubisoft jobs have been eliminated or placed at risk across six restructuring rounds so far in 2026. The most recent round, announced June 10, puts up to 380 employees at risk through studio closures in Winnipeg (approximately 65 staff) and Belgrade (approximately 100 staff), 51 layoffs at Barcelona, and an undisclosed number at Ubisoft San Francisco. An additional 170 Montréal developers were reassigned off Rainbow Six-related projects but have not been classified as laid off.
Why is Ubisoft closing studios?
Ubisoft reported a record operating loss of €1.3 billion for its fiscal year ending March 2026, on revenue that fell 21.8 percent year over year. The company is executing a cost-reduction programme targeting €500 million in fixed-cost savings by March 2028, and has warned that fiscal year 2026–27 will be another difficult year before a projected return to profitability in 2027–28.
What does the Winnipeg closure mean for players who spent money on Rainbow Six Mobile?
Players who purchased in-game items, season passes, or other content in Rainbow Six Mobile have no guaranteed right to a refund if the game's support is reduced or the title is eventually discontinued. Free-to-play games do not carry a legal obligation to continue service indefinitely under standard industry terms. The loss of Winnipeg's dedicated team — combined with the reassignment of Montréal developers — represents a material reduction in the engineering capacity behind the game's ongoing updates, which players who have spent money in the game should factor into any future spending decisions.
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