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After 18 Years, Ubisoft Shutting Down Its Studio in Morocco

Ubisoft Casablanca was founded in 1998 and worked on more than 26 games.

19 Comments

Ubisoft announced today that it will close its studio in Casablanca, Morocco. The official shutdown will take place on June 13.

In a statement, Ubisoft said employees were told about the shutdown sometime last week. Additionally, Ubisoft will provide "transfer opportunities" to other Ubisoft studios, or "assistance" for the employees who are being let go.

No Caption Provided

The headcount for Ubisoft Casablanca was not mentioned. The Ubisoft Casablanca website remains operational and includes the staff image above that shows more than two-dozen people.

Ubisoft Casablanca opened its doors in 1998. Over those 18 years, the developer has contributed to more than 26 games, including mobile and portable versions of games such as Valiant Hearts, Child of Light, and Rayman Legends.

The studio is closing down as a result of the evolution of the video game market, Ubisoft Mobile executive director Jean-Michel Detoc said in a statement.

"We didn't find a sustainable formula for the studio within our broader network," he explained.

Ubisoft's statement continued: "The decision to close Ubisoft Casablanca was taken as part of Ubisoft's constant efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its cross-collaboration studio model."

Following the closure of Ubisoft Casablanca, Ubisoft will have 29 studios in 17 countries. Five of these studios are "fully committed" to mobile game development.

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Bigjoe275

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Edited By Bigjoe275

Maybe if ubisoft stopped advertising lying. With downgraded games. Then no one would lose there jobs. Sorry to say this more are coming. Because G.R.A.W Wildlands and Watchdogs 2. Will be a no buy for me. Tried of ubisoft lying because we all know these games will be downgraded and I'm not buying any of them.

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Gravity_Slave

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Lol they had a studio in Morraco? Why?

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Thanatos2k

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So they didn't actually make any games, just "contributions"?

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danyjr

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This is a shame, Rayman series were great, absolutely loved them.

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Thanatos2k

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@danyjr: They didn't make Rayman.

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suicidesn0wman

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For those not paying attention, most of the Rayman games were made by Ubisoft Montpellier. This studio just did Rayman 3d on the 3ds and an iOS game. This studio mostly ported other teams games to mobile.

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bunchanumbers

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This reminds me of that scene from Independence Day where Jeff Goldblum is trashing a office trying to make the planet unappealing to the aliens who were going to take over the planet. Maybe Ubisoft is trying to make themselves unappealing to the Vivendi takeover.

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hystavito

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Edited By hystavito

@bunchanumbers: :)

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Artwark

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I wonder if this studio would still be around if they had not made any mobile games to begin with.

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PlaystationZone

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Get ready be taken over ubisoft . reasle all games this year . If ubisoft taken over be no more AC Games .

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DarthRevenX

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@playstationzone: Not seeing a down side to that....no Assassins games anymore?? win for me.....

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darksouls

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@playstationzone: Wouldnt that be a good thing if there were no more AC games?

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dirthurts

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See, if everyone would have just bought Rayman games this would all be different.

Such good games and now they're likely gone forever.

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DarthRevenX

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@dirthurts: Rayman sucks......character never appealed to me....

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dirthurts

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@darthrevenx: Just because you can't appreciate clever characters doesn't make for a bad one.

The games are fantastic and critically loved with a large fanbase. But teens are too busy playing COD to appreciate something different.

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catsimboy

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Well I guess having one less studio will shave off a couple minutes from Ubisoft's interminably long credits.

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DarthRevenX

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@catsimboy: LOLZ, it's sad how even with that many people on their games the games still suck ass.....

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