Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is out today and is already having one of the best Steam launches in the franchise’s history. Unfortunately, the celebrations are bittersweet for developers who worked on the game at Ubisoft Barcelona. The studio’s team there is facing layoffs at the end of the month after not being assigned to a new project. “After 7 years at Ubisoft Barcelona, this is not how I imagined it would end,” wrote QA lead Isabel Codina García on LinkedIn. “But I am genuinely grateful for the people I have met and everything I have learned along the way.”
The layoffs are part of the ongoing cuts at Ubisoft as it restructures amid delays of big games and weak sales of recent blockbusters. They were initiated back in June alongside the closing of Ubisoft Winnipeg and layoffs across Ubisoft’s global publishing division.
The Spanish union La Confederación General del Trabajo later called for strikes over the planned termination of 51 employees at Ubisoft Barcelona. The labor group was calling for better job protections and the return of work-from-home options, alongside other workplace improvements. Nearly a third of the Barcelona office is set to be gone by the end of July.
“Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced releases today, the project I have been working on for the past 2.5 years,” Isabel Codina García wrote. “However, two weeks before launch, the whole AC team at Ubisoft Barcelona was informed of a collective redundancy plan (ERE). Vantage Studios has stated there will not be further mandates for the Barcelona studio, despite the team proposing new AC projects.”
“All my thoughts in this Assassin’s Creed Black Flag release day goes to my colleagues at Ubisoft Barcelona, who have worked on the game and are undergoing a layoff,” wrote Paris studio programmer Mataoui Chakib Souleyman. “Without them the game would not make it to release day.”
According to Insider Gaming, the Barcelona studio’s launch celebration event for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was downgraded to a smaller catered “get-together at the studio.” The game itself, meanwhile, is already the best reviewed one in the series in over a decade, and seems poised to be a big seller for Ubisoft in an otherwise anemic year for new releases from the French publisher.