Ubisoft may cut up to 19 jobs at Reflections

Ubisoft has confirmed potential job losses at Newcastle studio Reflections, which is currently developing Driver: San Francisco.

"There was a meeting to propose reorganisations to the team that may result in redundancies of up to a dozen studio members," a Ubisoft spokesperson told Develop.

"This is a proposal for reorganisation, and it isn't the people who are made redundant, but the jobs themselves. The people get to have their say about the reorganisation."

The spokesperson claimed that around seven contract workers are also likely to be affected, while developers from Ubisoft Montréal might be brought in to help finish Driver: San Francisco.

Ubisoft maintained that the studio was not in further danger or would see closure after the project's completion. "The brand is very important to us, and Reflections is crucial as a studio. They have an expertise that none of our other studios have."

While the specific staff lost are unknown, an internal source alleged to Develop that "Some were high up, people who have been at the company for a very long time. Craig Lawson and Jack Couvela haven't come back into work since." The pair are the studio's creative and art director respectively, and have worked at Reflections since the late 1990s.

The source claimed the cuts were because "there had been delays" with the new Driver game, but felt the studio hadn't "had much support from external sources."