Ubisoft close the studio behind Assassin’s Creed Rebellion days after the developers vote to unionise

Ubisoft are closing Ubisoft Halifax, the Canadian developers of mobile games Rainbow Six Mobile and Assassin’s Creed Rebellion. This is strictly speaking outside our mandate as a PC gaming site, of course – I fear smartphones like Hell itself, and only ever communicate over long distances using homing pigeons – but it’s all part of Ubisoft’s wider transformation into a heavily Tencent-backed publisher, and the nasty twist is that Ubisoft Halifax had only just voted to unionise.

As reported by Gamesindustry.biz, Ubisoft Halifax staff announced the founding of Ubisoft’s first labour union in North America earlier this week, having begun the process in June 2025. Almost 74% of the studio’s staff voted in favour, spanning the programming, production, design, art and R&D departments. The vote was actually due to take place last June, but Ubisoft mounted challenges that were ultimately dropped ahead of vote-counting in December.

In announcement materials, the freshly unionised Halifax staff appeared positive about their relationship with the company. “We believe that creativity flourishes when workers feel secure, supported, and empowered,” they wrote. “We are unionising not in opposition to Ubisoft, but in partnership, with the goal of ensuring our studio remains a beacon of equity, excellence, and innovation.”

Now, Ubisoft have binned them off, though they’ve stressed to GI that this has nothing to do with unionisation. “Over the past 24 months, Ubisoft has undertaken company-wide actions to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs,” the company said in a statement. “As part of this, Ubisoft has made the difficult decision to close its Halifax studio. 71 positions will be affected. We are committed to supporting all impacted team members during this transition with resources, including comprehensive severance packages and additional career assistance.”

According to an Ubisoft spokesperson, the closure forms part of cost-cutting that dates back to the lifting of Covid restrictions and the end of the pandemic revenue boom. They remain happy to recognise and work with unionised staff in general. It should of course be noted that there are plenty of unionised Ubisoft staff in other regions, but still, I’m not sure burning down a subsidiary within days of unionisation indicates strong desire for a healthy dialogue with the workers.

Ubisoft Halifax weren’t always a mobile-dedicated studio. Prior to their acquisition by the House of Guillemot in 2015, they were known as Longtail and worked on guitar game Rocksmith.

Following a rough couple of years defined by plummeting stock prices and shareholder uprisings, Ubisoft are currently restructuring around a Tencent-funded core “creative house”, shoring up their core Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six operations while trimming the books elsewhere. They recently announced plans for redundancies at Massive, creators of Tom Clancy’s The Division, Star Wars Outlaws, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, together with a change of direction for Trials devs Redlynx.

Best of luck to all Ubisoft Halifax staff now looking for new jobs.