Ubisoft is laying off 105 employees at Red Storm Entertainment, the North Carolina studio founded by Tom Clancy in 1996 that created the Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six franchises. The studio is not just shrinking. It is ending game development entirely, pivoting to IT support and Snowdrop engine work for other Ubisoft studios.
This closure is part of a broader restructuring announced in January 2026 that saw Ubisoft cancel six games, delay seven others, and consolidate studios across multiple countries. The French publisher has been under intense pressure from investors and has explored acquisition offers, including from Tencent. The company's stock has lost significant value over the past three years.
Red Storm's transformation from a game development studio to a support function illustrates how the gaming industry's contraction plays out in practice. Studios with decades of history and franchises that defined entire genres are being reduced to service roles or shut down entirely. Epic Games, Electronic Arts, and now Ubisoft have all made deep cuts to their development teams in early 2026.