The gaming industry has been in turmoil for a while now. Since 2022, there have been an unusually large wave of layoffs, with tens of thousands of jobs axed worldwide, making it one of the most significant downturns in the industry’s recent history. Some of the reasons include:
Post-pandemic correction: Many companies expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 gaming boom, expecting demand to remain elevated. As player engagement and spending normalized, staffing levels often exceeded business needs.Higher development costs: Modern AAA games require larger teams, longer production cycles and bigger budgets, increasing financial risk.Rising interest rates: As borrowing became more expensive, investors and executives shifted their focus from growth to profitability.Industry consolidation: Major acquisitions, such as Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard, were followed by restructuring and job reductions to eliminate overlapping roles.Project cancellations: Several studios canceled games that had been in development for years, leading to layoffs.Strategic shifts: Companies are increasingly investing in live-service games, mobile titles and AI-assisted development tools, changing hiring priorities.
In this context, 51 employees at Ubisoft Barcelona are currently facing job cuts, many of whom worked on Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced. According to Insider Gaming, this is because Ubisoft typically assigns teams a new project well before the current one is finished, sometimes up to a year ahead. However, the Barcelona team received no such project, raising concerns as far back as summer 2025 to no avail.
Staff affected by the planned layoffs have pushed back by going on strike, starting on June 30 and expected to end on July 16. Grievances go beyond the layoffs themselves, with complainants speaking of “constant mistreatment, loss of talent, forced departures resulting from the erosion of workers’ rights, and an increasingly top-down management culture that leaves employees with little voice in decisions affecting their work.” This follows a brutal round of layoffs at Xbox, which saw 1,600 jobs axed. Another 1,600 are planned through 2027.