Driver: San Francisco Developer Ubisoft Reflections Hit With Layoffs

Another studio has suffered layoffs today, as Ubisoft has confirmed the Newcastle-based studio, Ubisoft Reflections, will see cuts.

According to Develop, as many as 19 employees on the Driver: San Francisco team could be out of work as part of "wider restructuring." Those facing the axe reach from all levels of the studio, from members of the studio's senior dev team to contract workers. Ubisoft says that the 19 employees will either be made redundant or not receive a contract renewal.

Sources at Develop say that staff at Ubisoft Reflections were warned of the situation last Tuesday. "We weren't given names, but they took some people into a separate office afterwards, gave them a letter and took them out of the building. That was it," the source told Develop.

Driver: San Francisco was recently delayed by publisher Ubisoft. Sources at Develop cite the delays as one of the contributing factors for the recent redundancies. According to Ubisoft, the Reflections dev house is "crucial as a studio" and there are no plans to close shop.

Driver: Dan Francisco is due out by March 2011 for the PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii.