.png?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=80&format=jpg&disable=upscale "A picture of the Ubisoft Montreal offices")
Photograph via Ubisoft’s official site
Ubisoft has reportedly canceled Alterra, a social-sim game inspired by the Animal Crossing series.
According to Insider Gaming, the studio reportedly broke the news yesterday, telling employees that the in-development title was canceled before sending staff home for the day.
As Insider Gaming reports, employees working on the game were put on availability for other projects within the company. Game Developer understands the cancellation won’t result in job cuts.
Alterra had reportedly been in development for nearly three years at Ubisoft Montreal, and was led by creative director Patrick Redding and lead producer Fabien Lhéraud.
“As part of our portfolio management approach and evolving creative house-led model, we continuously assess projects at every stage of development to ensure alignment with our strategic priorities, quality ambitions, and long-term market potential. Projects that no longer meet these expectations may be discontinued,” a Ubisoft representative told Game Developer over email.
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The report comes mere months after Ubisoft announced a global cost-savings plan, which was announced in January of this year. Since then, the company ended game development at Red Storm and laid off 105 workers, and closed its Halifax studio weeks after workers voted to unionize. Then, the publisher confirmed that it quietly made 29 people redundant at its studio in Abu Dhabi in November 2025. In February, Ubisoft Toronto laid off 40 employees.
Approximately 1,200 workers, in turn, responded by striking on February 10. Days prior, two union representatives demanded the resignation of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. Meanwhile, a three-day international strike was called by five unions in France to demand leadership take “responsibility for the consequences of their catastrophic management.”
Earlier this month, the unionized workers impacted by the closure of Ubisoft Halifax voted in favor of a settlement with the company. The terms of the settlement, including the compensation employees will receive, is confidential. Former Ubisoft Halifax employee Jon Huffman said the decision shocked all 71 employees at the studio, but thanked CWA Canada for helping to negotiate a settlement.
“It came as a surprise to all of us and to the front-line managers as we were in the middle of many on-going and new projects, and doing great work,” said Huffman. “We are extremely grateful to our union for negotiating this package for us.”
At the time of writing, Ubisoft has yet to publicly acknowledge the reported project. According to the report, Alterra featured a voxel art style and mechanics similar to Minecraft, where players could buy an array of objects with gathered materials. Images seen in the past by Insider Game reportedly showed Matterlings, the NPCs in the game, looking similar to Funko Pop characters. The world consisted of multiple biomes with different creatures and materials to gather, fight, and meet.
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About the Author
Contributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.com
Diego Nicolás Argüello is a freelance journalist and critic from Argentina. Video games helped him to learn English, so now he covers them for places like The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and more. He also runs Into the Spine, a site dedicated to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast about the Ace Attorney series. He’s most likely playing a rhythm game as you read this.
