Ubisoft Barcelona staff strike over proposed layoffs affecting 51 workers
Ubisoft Barcelona workers began partial strikes over 51 proposed layoffs, as CGT said a new return-to-office rule and a Rainbow Six refocus deepened the dispute.
Ubisoft Barcelona staff walked off the job over a plan that could cut 51 roles, turning the studio’s staffing review into a public labor fight. The action, organized by La Confederación General del Trabajo, began as a series of partial strikes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between June 30 and July 16.
The layoff proposal has sharpened concerns because it would hit a studio of roughly 180 people.
Ubisoft has already been restructuring around a broader organizational, operational and portfolio reset announced in January 2026, which would affect both its release schedule and the mix of projects in development. The Barcelona cuts have narrowed the site more narrowly to Rainbow Six work, redirecting the studio away from broader support functions and toward a smaller set of franchise priorities.
For game developers at Nintendo, the Barcelona dispute is a reminder that the external production network is only as stable as its weakest partner. Porting, co-development, QA, localization and support teams can absorb a disruption quickly when a partner studio is absorbing layoffs, changing scope or losing experienced staff. That can mean slower approvals, more rework, and tighter pressure on launch readiness, especially when a project depends on multiple handoffs across regions and time zones.
The labor fight in Barcelona follows an earlier conflict over working conditions. A new remote-work policy at Ubisoft Barcelona and Ubisoft Barcelona Mobile requires employees to be in the office three days a week, replacing a system that had allowed workers to choose remote days up to 60 percent of the month for nearly five years. CGT argued the change amounted to disguised layoffs and that the office was not equipped to handle that many workers on-site at once.
CGT has demanded that the remote-work change be stopped and that telework protections be written into collective agreement.
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