Massive Entertainment, the studio behind the likes of The Division 2 and last year’s Star Wars Outlaws, is being hit by layoffs, but the way in which the news was shared is…interesting, to say the least.
Over on Massive’s official X account, the studio says it’s “recently realigned [its] teams and resources to strengthen [its] roadmap”. In order to “support this transition”, Massive says it has introduced what it calls a “voluntary career transition program”.
This program, Massive says, will enable “eligible team members the opportunity to take their next career step on their own terms”. Essentially, this sounds a lot like Massive staff are being offered the opportunity to jump before they’re pushed.
One rather imagines that there probably isn’t a path for Massive employees to turn down this “voluntary career transition program”, so to me, this rather sounds like Ubisoft trying to shift the blame for the layoffs onto the employees themselves, which is pretty grim.
In any case, cutting through the jungle of corporate jargon on offer here, the reality is that Massive Entertainment is losing employees. The studio does, however, say that it “remains fully committed to [its] roadmap”, and that The Division 3 is still on track.
These layoffs come just a day or so after Ubisoft announced staff reductions at Trials developer RedLynx, although the language used in that case wasn’t quite so horrifyingly dystopian as Massive’s missive.
They also follow a disappointing year or two for the French publisher, with Massive’s Star Wars Outlaws disappointing in sales terms and Assassin’s Creed Shadows failing to make up for losses elsewhere in the company.
We’ll have to wait and see whether or not any other Ubisoft subsidiaries get hit with layoffs, and whether this will result in any project cancellations. Stay tuned for more on this and all other things industry-related.
