Ubisoft Halifax Studio Closure Two Days After Forming Union
Ubisoft shut down one of their studios just two days after it unionized.
The Unionization Process
Ubisoft Halifax officially formed a union January 5th 2026 after being certified by the Nova Scotia Labour Board on December 18th 2025. CTV News reported that 61 employees are now members of the Game and Media Workers Guild of Canada, CWA Canada Local 30111. Ubisoft Halifax had filed to unionize back in June 2025 but was delayed from being officially counted since Ubisoft chose to challenge it.
Senior Server Programmer Thomas Gillis spoke on the unionization stating, ““Unionizing with my coworkers at Ubisoft Halifax is important to me so that we have the strength needed to protect what we have today and to fight for our tomorrow. With no end in sight to the industry-wide turbulence that sees studios shutter on releasing games fans love, it is up to us, the workers, to organize and demand a say in our labour, art and future.”
Jon Huffman, one of the lead programmers at Ubisoft Halifax, also backed the formation of their union saying, ““We don’t want to be coming at this from a place of negativity,. We love working at Ubisoft Halifax. We want to do it for a long time.”
In a mission statement on the Ubisoft Workers of Canada website, the bargaining unit stated, “We believe that creativity flourishes when workers feel secure, supported, and empowered. 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."
“Unionising gives us, the workers, a meaningful voice among decision-makers, a voice that will help shape the future of Ubisoft Halifax and the industry at large. Together, we will continue to build timeless experiences for players and forge a modern, compassionate, and resilient workplace for all who contribute to our craft."
Two days later, on January 7th, Ubisoft shut down Ubisoft Halifax.
The Closure
Ubisoft claims this decision process was made before the unionization and that they fully respect employees’ right to unionize. In response, CWA Canada stated that it would pursue every legal recourse to defend the union members affected by this sudden closure. In a statement to Game Developer, CWA Canada noted it is illegal for a business to be closed due to workers unionizing, in the country of Canada.
They didn’t outright accuse Ubisoft of union busting but the organization is now demanding answers from the publisher to understand why it chose to shut down Halifax now and to prove that the closure had nothing to do with the workers’ unionization efforts.
Ubisoft sent an email to staff stating that it had decided to close Ubisoft Halifax as a part of a company-wide cost-cutting and restructuring measure. Speaking to VGC, a Ubisoft spokesperson stated that such cost-cutting measures had been formulated over the last 24 months to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. A part of that included closing Halifax.
The spokesperson continued, “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.”
Game Developer had asked Ubisoft whether it could offer a timeline of events to elaborate on exactly when the decision had been made to shutter Halifax but Ubisoft did not provide such details.
Ubisoft Halifax was known as Longtail Studios Halifax when it was founded back in 2009. Longtail Studios had actually been created by Ubisoft co-founder Gérard Guillemot in 2003. In 2015, Ubisoft acquired Longtail Studios after its work on Rocksmith 2014.
Ubisoft Mobile’s executive director Jean-Michel Detoc spoke on the acquisition stating, “As we continue to grow our mobile business, we are also looking to develop our expertise and expand our network of mobile studios. The team of more than 30 talented people in Halifax brings with it a wealth of experience as well as a clear understanding of Ubisoft’s culture and processes.”
Ubisoft Halifax did indeed focus on mobile free-to-play games including Assassin’s Creed Rebellion and Rainbow Six Mobile which were reportedly successful. But we all know that success doesn’t mean job security in this industry right now.
Ubisoft Now
Just a reminder that Ubisoft had announced last year in March 2025 that Tencent had invested $1.25 billion for a minority stake in its new subsidiary studio that will be heading the development of Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. This subsidiary is called Vantage Studios which includes the teams who developed the previously mentioned titles from Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia.
In the press release of the announcement, Vantage studios will “focus on building game ecosystems designed to become truly evergreen and multi-platform. Backed by greater investment and boosted creative capacities, it will drive further increases in quality of narrative solo experiences, expand multiplayer offerings with increased frequency of content release, introduce free-to-play touchpoints, and integrate more social features.”
This is, irrefutably, one of the ways Ubisoft is trying to right itself and find stability after shutting down XDefiant and closing their San Francisco and Osaka offices, underperforming in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sales, and Star Wars Outlaws also failing to meet expected sales margins.
Ubisoft has incredibly talented developers across all its studios who are more than capable of creating quality games. What we’re seeing now is a product of studio execs trying to follow trends that don’t match their studio visions or strengths, and dealing with the consequences of that. But it’s not the execs who suffer, right? It’s the workers.
