Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake hits record player numbers on day 51 staff are laid off

Ubisoft is enjoying a successful launch of the highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake, but it hasn't prevented jobs from being lost at the company.

Following months of rumours, Ubisoft officially confirmed the existence of the remake in April 2026, and it would carry a new name, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. Powered by an enhanced version of Ubisoft’s Anvil engine, this remake of the beloved 2013 release has improved visuals, performance, gameplay and even some new story missions, accompanied by new cinematics.

Sure, it is missing some content that was not in the original game, such as the modern-day Abstergo office missions, as well as the fantastic Freedom Cry expansion, but Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has been well-received across the board from critics and fans alike.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Hits Record-Breaking Player Milestone

As brought to our attention by IGN, despite only releasing on Thursday, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has already achieved the highest player peak on Steam in the entire series. Granted, these numbers only reflect the PC platform, but if a game performs well on Steam, it can be seen as an indication for the console counterpart.

At the time of writing, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has an all-time concurrent player peak of 99,451, compared to the original game, which was released nearly 13 years ago, with 16,049. To put things into a more perspective, this is a whopping 520% increase.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed mainline games with the highest Steam player peaks

• Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2025) - 64, 825
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (2018) - 62, 069
• Assassin’s Creed Origins (2017) - 41, 551
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (2020) - 19,181
• Assassin’s Creed III (2012) - 15,007
• Assassin’s Creed Unity (2014) - 12,180
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (2015) - 4,729
• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (2010) - 3,848
• Assassin’s Creed II (2009) -3,617
• Assassin’s Creed Revelations (2011) - 3,105
• Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut (2008) - 1,468

READ MORE: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced players warned about bug which wipes hours of progress

Ubisoft lays off employees despite Black Flag Resynced success

Sadly, as reported by Insider Gaming, 51 employees have been made redundant from Ubisoft Barcelona, some of whom had worked on Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.

The article from Insider Gaming states that some of those employees knew that the writing was on the proverbial wall, no matter the success of the remake, because a new project wasn't assigned after its launch. Typically, developers know what’s coming next way ahead of time. It’s claimed that the team wasn't assigned any new projects dating back to the summer of 2025.

The report says that the 51 Ubisoft Barcelona employees were laid off just days after completing the development of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. One ex-employee impacted by the redundancies told Insider Gaming:

”These layoffs coincide with the broader context of ongoing workplace issues. This is not an isolated event; it reflects a pattern of constant mistreatment, loss of talent, forced departures resulting from the erosion of workers’ rights, and an increasingly top-down management culture that leaves employees with little voice in decisions affecting their work.”

Furthermore, employees at Ubisoft Barcelona have announced a series of strikes supported by the Video Game Union Coordinating Committee. Those strikes will take place every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon between 30 June and 16 July.

READ MORE: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is better than the original in almost every way