Ubisoft has cut 45 staff across two of its North American studios, as part of its third round of redundancies so far this year.

The company has laid off workers at both Ubisoft San Francisco, the developer of XDefiant, and Red Storm Entertainment, which had been working on the now-cancelled The Division: Heartland live service game.

"Last week Ubisoft San Francisco and Red Storm Entertainment informed their teams of a restructuring that will result in 45 employees leaving Ubisoft," a spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Eurogamer.

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Ubisoft has cancelled its upcoming free-to-play shooter The Division Heartland, as it moves to refocus its resources on "bigger opportunities".

The Division Heartland was announced for PC and consoles back in May 2021, when it was original set to launch within a vague "2021-22" release window. Since then, it's resurfaced intermittently, and an open beta last summer - followed by a Taiwanese ratings board sighting - seemed to suggest a launch was finally drawing near.

However, three years after Heartland's unveiling, Ubisoft has now officially called time on the still-unreleased project. "After careful consideration, we have made the tough call to halt development on Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland, effective immediately," the publisher wrote in a statement announcing the news (thanks IGN).

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As Ubisoft revealed Assassin's Creed Shadows they also released their earnings report for the financial year 2023-2024. Buried among the chatter of "profitable growth trajectories" and "B2B partnerships" was a brief note about looter shooter The Division Heartland. "Ubisoft has decided to stop development on The Division Heartland," it reads, "and has redeployed resources to bigger opportunities such as XDefiant and Rainbow Six." Ah, so this is the games industry equivalent of being summarily dumped by text.

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