Capcom Vancouver, Capcom’s Canadian studio (responsible for the Dead Rising franchise has shut down today after a number of layoffs.
The video game mega giant confirmed that their Western office is closing after 13 years, laying off a whopping 158 people. Capcom rep issued a statement to Kotaku regarding the closure:
“as a result of reviewing titles in development at Capcom Vancouver, Capcom has decided to cancel the development projects at this studio and will concentrate development of major titles in Japan.”
They also added a ‘skeleton crew’ will lay in place until January to “finalize closure operations and logistics”. Earlier in February, 30% of Capcom Vancouver’s employees were laid off which was masked as a ‘restructure’ as part of the regular assessment. Just like back in February, ex-employees have taken to Twitter to announce the closure with Aidan Scanlan (former Design Director) tweeting about the shutdown:
Unfortunately Capcom Vancouver shuttered today. I’m in a bit of a shock, but if you know of anyone looking for an 18 year experienced game designer send them my way. Spread the word!
— Aidan Scanlan (@aidanscanlan) September 18, 2018
Founded in 2005 in the picturesque city of Burnaby, Blue Castle Games gave the world ‘The Bigs’, a baseball arcade-style title that while wasn’t a swinging sensation with critics – garnering mostly positive reviews with an average of 7/10 with most outlets – still managed but it wasn’t until 2010 when Blue Castle Games acquired the rights to develop Dead Rising 2 and its three spin-offs. Capcom was impressed by their work, so much so they decided to buy the studio and rebrand it as Capcom Vancouver. Unfortunately, Dead Rising 4 didn’t fare so well with reviewers and gamers, leading to a regularly discounted price on Steam.
According to a press release published on the Capcom website, the canceled projects cost 4.5 billion Yen ($40 million) which could have included the fifth installment to the zombie brawling franchise. It’s unclear whether Capcom will scrap these projects or transfer them over to their other offices across the world.