Ubisoft studio that invented Rainbow Six to stop making games after 30 years

Despite creating the Tom Clancy franchise, Red Storm hasn’t released a new entry since 2012 (Red Storm Entertainment)

Red Storm Entertainment is closing its doors, as Tomb Raider maker Crystal Dynamics sees yet another round of layoffs.

You might not be familiar with the name Red Storm Entertainment, but it’s a far more significant studio than you may realise, as it’s responsible for the Tom Clancy franchise of military themed action games.

Co-founded by author Tom Clancy himself, it struck gold with tactical shooter Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six in 1998. Ubisoft then acquired it in 2000, marking the company’s shift from publishing primarily French games to the more Americanised, shooter friendly Ubisoft you know today.

Without Red Storm, Ubisoft may have never found success in the multiplayer shooter genre, via subsequent Tom Clancy games, including Rainbow Six Siege. So it’s saddening to learn the studio is effectively shutting its doors, as an active video game developer, just months before its 30th anniversary in September.

VGC broke the news earlier today, reporting that 105 jobs are being lost as a result, with none of the studio’s game developers being retained. Technically it isn’t being shut down though, as it will continue as an ‘IT and Snowdrop [Ubisoft’s in-house game engine] support’ studio.

This is a continuation of Ubisoft’s cost cutting plans, which include a major restructuring of the company and its studios being divvied up across five ‘Creative Houses’ that oversee different franchises.

One of those houses, Vantage Studios, will be responsible for Rainbow Six (as well as Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry), with a second unnamed one handling the rest of the Tom Clancy sub-series: Ghost Recon, The Division, and Splinter Cell.

Red Storm is not being included, despite being the originator of the Tom Clancy games, although that’s perhaps not too surprising. Red Storm hasn’t actually been involved with the Tom Clancy franchise for years; with the last entry it actively worked on being 2012’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

Since then, it’s only released a few VR titles, including 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, which now serves as its final game. It was working on two new Tom Clancy projects – a Splinter Cell VR game and free-to-play spin-off The Division Heartland – but both were cancelled in 2022 and 2024, respectively.

Job losses continue to plague the games industry, just as they have all generation, with the Red Storm news not being the only example this week. Yesterday, Crystal Dynamics announced via LinkedIn that it had let go 20 of its team members despite currently having two Tomb Raider games in the pipeline.

‘As our current projects move into new phases of development, we continuously take a hard look at our team structures to ensure they align with our long-term studio goals,’ it explained.

‘While we always strive to transition our people into new roles whenever possible, we have unfortunately reached a point where these departures are necessary.’

Also on LinkedIn, several Warner Bros. Montréal staff members recently announced they were out of work, including associative narrative director Ceri Young and level designer Camille Olivier Paquette. Although it’s not clear how many have left overall.

Meanwhile, Amazon seems to be cutting back further on its video game ambitions. It already let go so many employees last year that its New World MMO stopped receiving support, and is set to shut down entirely next January.

Even more layoffs have taken place in its gaming division reecntly, including senior publishing producer Henry Stelter, who had been with Amazon for the past nine years.

A remake of the first Tomb Raider is due this year, with a new sequel to follow in 2027 (Crystal Dynamics)

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