Tencent has shut down its TiMi Montreal game studio. Here's the full story.
Created and backed by the video game subdivision of the Chinese conglomerate Tencent, TiMi Montreal game studio has been silently shut down after less than five years of its inception back in 2021. That too, without ever shipping a single title as reported by Game File.
Back in 2021, during the pandemic and the massive boom in the gaming market, giants like Tencent, NetEase, and many others were on an expansion spree to capitalize on the market.
Fast forward today, and the gaming industry is bleeding, and the mass layoffs and studio shutdowns are a prime example of that. With the TiMi Montreal studio being one of the most recent casualties.
A few days back, on February 20th, Sony shut down its Bluepoint studios, which were known for producing critically acclaimed remakes like their most recent work, Demon's Souls Remake.
The TiMi Montreal studio was created by Tencent Games "to create AAA open-world multi-platform games." This is not the first NA-based studio funded by a foreign entity to close down.
The general cost of producing video games in the U.S. has been on the rise compared to Asian countries. Seeing the investors backing out, leading to studio closures, is no surprise.
That said, on the closure of the studio, a programmer from TiMi Montreal studio said on LinkedIn that employees were aware of this “for some time.”
He added, “I am genuinely heartbroken that the public will never get to experience what this team was capable of producing.”
So far, Tencent Games has made no official announcements on the closure. Neither has been replying to media queries. If we hear anything back, we will share an update on the story.