15 OCT 2026 — Ubisoft has cut 70 jobs at its Singapore studio, about a fifth of the local workforce. The French publisher announced the cuts on 14 October together with a proposal to close RedLynx, its studio in Finland, in the latest round of a cost-cutting programme that has already closed four studios this year. The company said the Singapore studio "remains an important part" of its global production. That studio is not an ordinary branch office: it was set up with government incentives and later received public money to build a game that took a decade to ship.
What Ubisoft announced
"At Ubisoft Singapore, 70 positions have been impacted to align the studio with upcoming production needs," the company said in a statement carried by GamesIndustry.biz. In Finland, it proposed closing RedLynx, the studio behind the Trials series, which would affect up to 52 positions, subject to local consultation.
Checks by The Straits Times found that those affected in Singapore include designers, artists, production staff and programmers. A Ubisoft spokesperson told the paper that affected staff would receive financial and career assistance, and that the studio is working with the Skills & Workforce Development Agency and NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) on job placements.
Built with public support
Ubisoft opened in Singapore in 2008 while the government was pushing to build a digital media and animation hub, and it received substantial incentives from the Economic Development Board, The Straits Times reported. In 2016 it received an undisclosed sum from the government to develop Skull and Bones, a pirate action game led by the Singapore studio. It finally launched in 2024 after repeated delays, and players received it poorly.
That record drew questions in Parliament in 2025. Workers' Party MP Gerald Giam asked how much Ubisoft had received since 2008, what targets were attached and whether the money could be clawed back. The then-Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Alvin Tan, declined to give the figure, citing confidentiality and commercial sensitivity, but said mechanisms existed to claw back subsidies if agreed milestones were not met, according to The Straits Times.
Those terms have never been made public, so it is impossible to know whether this week's cuts touch any of them. The question is fair for a project partly paid for with public money, and the latest cuts make it more pointed.
Why now
The cuts are part of a company-wide retrenchment, not a judgement on the Singapore team. Ubisoft reported a net loss of 1.5 billion euros for its 2025-26 financial year and is aiming for at least 200 million euros of further spending cuts over two years, CNA reported, citing AFP. This year alone it has closed studios in Stockholm, Halifax, Winnipeg and Belgrade and cancelled six games, according to GamesIndustry.biz.
A hit, then cuts
The timing is awkward because the Singapore studio has just had a hit. It led development of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, a remake released in July that CNA says has sold more than 3.5 million copies. "(Ubisoft) is tightening their belt across the company, and the Singapore office is just feeling it now," Allan Simonsen, co-founder of Singapore developer Boomzap Entertainment, told The Straits Times. He added that cutting the team rather than closing it suggests Ubisoft still has faith in it. Experts quoted by the paper attributed the cuts to the company's finances rather than artificial intelligence, though they said AI has slowed hiring in game development.
What affected workers can do
Ubisoft is not unionised, but some employees belong to the Creative Media and Publishing Union. The union said it was contacting members to offer career guidance and job matching. The union said employers should provide "fair retrenchment benefits and appropriate assistance" in line with Singapore's tripartite advisory on responsible retrenchment. According to CNA, Singaporeans and permanent residents who take part in e2i's job search activities may also qualify for SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support of up to S$6,000 over six months.
Niko Partners analyst Darang Candra noted that many game companies with Singapore offices do not develop games here, which made Ubisoft's studio unusual. That may leave few local studios able to absorb 70 experienced developers, so retraining carries more weight. Singapore's latest digital economy report found that most workers who wanted training in the AI tools they use had not had it.
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