Ubisoft Cuts Red Storm Staff as Tom Clancy Studio Scales Back

Ubisoft has significantly downsized Red Storm Entertainment, the veteran North Carolina development studio best known for its foundational work on the Tom Clancy video game universe. Following an internal company announcement, the publisher shifted the studio entirely away from active game development and into a global tech support role.

As a direct result of this restructuring, 105 developers at the company have lost their jobs, as per Video Games Chronicle.

Red Storm is shifting from game design to tech support

Red Storm Entertainment originally opened its doors in 1996 and became part of the Ubisoft family in 2000. Over the years, the talented team adapted Tom Clancy novels into incredibly successful military gaming franchises. Their early portfolio includes the original Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon titles, which helped define tactical shooters for a generation of players. 

More recently, the studio assisted other global teams on various Far Cry projects and spearheaded notable virtual reality titles. These included games like Star Trek Bridge Crew, Werewolves Within, and the 2023 release Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR. Following the cancellation of its standalone survival action game Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland in 2024, the studio struggled to secure a new flagship project.

Now, Red Storm will strictly handle global IT infrastructure and provide technical assistance for the company’s proprietary Snowdrop engine.

There are broader changes across the publisher

These latest job cuts arrive amidst a larger wave of organizational changes happening at Ubisoft. The French publisher recently canceled multiple projects to manage costs. This includes the cancellation of the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake earlier this year. Management has also completely closed development centers in locations like Stockholm and Halifax.

Meanwhile, other established teams in Abu Dhabi and at Massive Entertainment experienced significant restructuring and their own rounds of layoffs. Company leadership cited a highly competitive shooter market and an increasingly selective consumer base as the primary drivers behind this continuous portfolio reset. 

Major intellectual properties are currently being consolidated under a few core creative studios, leaving smaller teams vulnerable. The transition at Red Storm marks the end of a notable era for one of the industry’s longest-running studios.

Via Eurogamer