Ubisoft Layoffs Reportedly Continue At Growtopia Studio Ubisoft Abu Dhabi
Ubisoft’s cost reduction cycle is carrying into 2026, and fresh reporting suggests the latest pressure point is Ubisoft Abu Dhabi, the mobile focused team known for live operations on Growtopia. A new report from Game Developer indicates layoffs at the studio began in December 2025 and continued into the new year, adding to a fast growing tally of workforce reductions across Ubisoft’s global footprint.
Multiple former staff updates posted publicly on LinkedIn have helped surface the scope and timing of the cuts. Former art director Daniel Kovacs wrote about being impacted by layoffs at Ubisoft Abu Dhabi and reflected on 3.5 years with the team on his LinkedIn post. Social media manager Raiza Veridiano also shared that they were affected by layoffs and expressed gratitude for 4 years and 9 months at the studio on this LinkedIn post. More recently, game support specialist Zohaib Shafiq posted that their journey at Ubisoft Abu Dhabi was ending following restructuring after 4.5 years, signaling the impact has carried into 2026 via this LinkedIn post.
Ubisoft has now publicly confirmed the reduction. A statement shared with GamesIndustry Biz says the company restructured its Abu Dhabi mobile studio in November 2025, discontinued some projects, and narrowed focus toward Growtopia, with 29 team members impacted. Ubisoft added that it is providing support throughout the transition.
Strategically, the messaging is consistent with Ubisoft’s broader efficiency drive, where management has framed layoffs and closures as company wide actions designed to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. That narrative has been visible across Ubisoft’s early 2026 moves, including the closure of Ubisoft Halifax and job reductions at other studios, creating an industry wide perception that Ubisoft is reshaping its internal delivery model while ring fencing select core priorities.
The Abu Dhabi studio itself is not a small outpost. Ubisoft’s own location page describes Ubisoft Abu Dhabi as a regional hub for game development and notes the team is more than 60 people, with work tied to titles like Growtopia and CSI Hidden Crimes on the studio’s Ubisoft Abu Dhabi location page. In that context, 29 roles is a material change in capacity that can reshape live operations velocity, content cadence, and service depth for community driven titles, even if the company’s stated intent is to concentrate effort rather than reduce ambition.
From a gamer industry lens, the difficult reality is that live operated games like Growtopia sit at the intersection of high player expectations and strict operational budgeting. When a publisher consolidates projects and narrows focus, the success metric becomes execution efficiency: stable updates, predictable community management, and strong support workflows with fewer hands. How Ubisoft manages that transition will be the real indicator of whether this restructuring improves resilience or simply reduces bandwidth at a time when live communities are more demanding than ever.
What do you think is the smartest way for a live service studio to protect update quality and community trust when headcount drops, slower but more polished updates, or smaller updates at a faster cadence?
