Ubisoft guts OG Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon studio, laying off 105 developers as Red Storm transitions from game development to tech support

Multiple outlets are reporting that Ubisoft has ended game development at Red Storm Entertainment, the studio that created the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series. The reports suggest that over 105 developers are being laid off as a result of the decision.

IGN, GamesIndustry.biz, and VGC are all separately reporting essentially the same details: Red Storm Entertainment is transitioning away from game development, with a permanent downsizing cutting 105 jobs. Red Storm will now function as a support studio, offering IT assistance and development support on the Snowdrop engine, which has powered many of Ubisoft's games since it debuted in 2016 with The Division.

This is part of the "major reset" Ubisoft announced earlier in the year, which is seeing the company reorganize itself into five major "creative houses" that will handle core development on key franchises. Under the new Ubisoft, studios like the now-gutted Red Storm exist outside of those five key divisions to provide support.

Red Storm Entertainment is best known as the original developer of numerous Tom Clancy games, including the original Rainbow Six in 1998. Ubisoft acquired the studio in 2000, shortly ahead of the launch of Ghost Recon. Red Storm would continue producing Red Faction and Ghost Recon games to critical acclaim for years, but as with many Ubisoft studios, it became more and more of a co-development house through the '10s.

Red Storm would lead development on VR titles like 2016's Werewolves Within and 2017's Star Trek: Bridge Crew, but suffered a string of canceled projects in recent years, including a VR Splinter Cell title and the free-to-play Division spinoff, Heartland.

The studio would, in theory, be celebrating its 30th anniversary later this year – but that's going to be a pretty sad birthday party.

Ubisoft CEO admits the company spun up "too many projects" which are now widely canceled in the fallout from bad bets during Covid.