Funcom closing Beijing studio, layoffs in US and Canada

Funcom said today that it will follow up a new round of staff cuts at its Raleigh, North Carolina studio by closing its Beijing studio this year and reducing its headcount in Montreal.

In an update regarding its previously announced restructuring plans, the company said it's in the process of established a centralised live team at its Raleigh studio which will primarily focus on supporting and expanding existing MMO games Age of Conan, Anarchy Online and The Secret World.

Funcom's new product strategy will see it create “smaller, high quality online games with more limited budgets and shorter production timelines”.

The company said in a statement posted on its website: “As a natural result of the completion of the development on The Secret World, the Beijing studio, which primary responsibility was delivering art and animation to that project, will be closed down this year and the live team in Raleigh will be equipped with resources to produce visual assets for upcoming updates to the three live games.

“There has also been a staff reduction at the Raleigh studio in certain departments [and] the restructuring process includes a reduction in headcount at the Montreal studio”, which is at work on unannounced projects for tablets and mobiles.

CATEGORIES
Latest in RPG
Dragon Age 2
Veteran Dragon Age dev says one big delay is better than several small ones: "You are laying band-aid on top of band-aid on top of band-aid"
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor comes face to face with what might just be the best merch to come of the RPG yet – a 5-foot Funko Pop figure of his character
The Witcher 3 screenshot of Geralt
Avowed and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 tap into the same thing that makes The Witcher 3 so compelling – and it's something I'm always looking for in RPGs
Atomfall
Atomfall boss "very familiar" with Baldur's Gate 3 director's frustrations with publishers, as he recalls horror advice that games are "faster to make" if you "make fewer bugs"
Official art for Hopetown, featuring a group of miners looking towards the camera.
The battle to steal the Disco Elysium successor's spotlight continues as former and current ZA/UM devs reveal teasers for their new RPGs simultaneously
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Zero Dawn's Aloy is the star of Sony's leaked AI-powered character prototype, which allows users to ask questions to an unsettling, emotionless version of the protagonist
Latest in News
Rise of the Ronin's photo mode offers some wonderful shots
On the heels of Rise of the Ronin's PC launch, its director says there's a "significant" amount of Japanese Switch gamers: "I am closely watching how this will change with the release of Switch 2"
Stardew Valley Castle Village mod
Stardew Valley Expanded creator is building an "even more ambitious" mod with a whole new city and "dungeons inspired by The Legend of Zelda"
Dino Crisis 2 art showing a young woman and man back-to-back amid tall green grass, both with their weapons drawn
Dino Crisis gets a fresh trademark filing by Capcom, but it might not mean the 26-year-old survival horror franchise will get a new installment like fans expect
Cujo
Netflix is making a brand new adaptation of Cujo, the infamous Stephen King book about a killer dog
Dragon Age 2
Veteran Dragon Age dev says one big delay is better than several small ones: "You are laying band-aid on top of band-aid on top of band-aid"
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Dark Souls 2 fans remind Death Stranding 2 director Hideo Kojima that he won’t be taking the DS2 acronym that easily