Ubisoft’s Halifax office set to close with 71 jobs cut

Video game maker Ubisoft has closed its production studio in Halifax, eliminating 71 jobs.

The Paris-based company issued a statement today saying the move had nothing to do with a union drive that resulted in 60 employees joining the Canadian branch of the Communications Workers of America last month.

The company says it has been restructuring its global operations for the past two years, well before the union announced in June that a majority of Ubisoft Halifax staff had agreed to file for union certification.

A company spokesperson at the Halifax office says that in the past two years, Ubisoft has either closed or downsized several studios around the world, including in London, San Francisco, Osaka in central Japan and Leamington, U.K.

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The spokesperson says the company, which employed more than 17,000 people as of September, had cut more than 1,500 jobs in the previous year.

Ubisoft is best known for its Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Most of the employees working in Halifax supported a mobile version of the game known as Assassin’s Creed Rebellion, and they also worked on Rainbow Six Mobile.

The company’s largest production studio is in Montreal, but it also has studios in Toronto, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Que., and Saguenay, Que., the spokesperson said, adding that other Canadian offices have been affected by company cutbacks.