Ubisoft has confirmed plans to lay off 45 employees at two of its US studios.
As Bloomberg reports, the cuts affect Ubisoft San Francisco and Red Storm Entertainment, based in Cary, North Carolina.
Ubisoft San Francisco is the studio behind Rocksmith, South Park: The Fractured but Whole and XDefiant, while Red Storm mainly develops games in the Tom Clancy's series.
A Ubisoft spokesperson said it was “a difficult but necessary decision to align the organizations of these studios with their future business and development goals.”
Affected employees will receive severance pay and career support, it said.
Ubisoft announced in May that it had canceled The Division Heartland, which was in development at Red Storm.
In a quarterly earnings call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot explained his decision by saying that Heartland was inconsistent with the company's plans to focus its strategic focus on two vertical business areas: open-world adventures and native games-as-a-service titles.
“In line with the increased selectivity of our investments, we have decided to stop development of The Division Heartland and reallocate our resources to larger opportunities such as XDefiant and Rainbow Six Siege,” added Chief Financial Officer Frédérick Duguet.
Heartland was announced in May 2021 and was planned as a free-to-play multiplayer survival action shooter for PC and consoles.