BC Business
Microsoft Vancouver | BCBusinessVancouver's Microsoft Studios is the latest gaming studio to cuts its projects in a string of closures and cuts in the city's creative community of late.
The studio will cut all 35 of its employees and shutter two games in development. Will Vancouver’s gaming industry be able to recover? Vancouver’s digital gaming industry is likely down for the count. One of the last few studios left in the city that hadn’t moved or shuttered announced it would cut all its major projects and hand out pink slips to dozens of workers.
Microsoft Vancouver | BCBusinessVancouver’s Microsoft Studios is the latest gaming studio to cuts its projects in a string of closures and cuts in the city’s creative community of late.
Vancouver’s digital gaming industry is likely down for the count. One of the last few studios left in the city that hadn’t moved or shuttered announced it would cut all its major projects and hand out pink slips to dozens of workers. Microsoft announced Thursday it would lay off all its local workers and shutter development of two games, called Microsoft Flight and Project Columbia. The move follows Microsoft posting its first-ever quarterly profit loss earlier this week. Although Microsoft said it won’t shut down its Vancouver studio, with all the employees cut loose and its major projects out of commission, closing the studio’s doors could soon follow. Vancouver’s digital gaming industry has been gutted recently as more studios make cuts, such as Electronic Arts, leave to pursue better tax incentives in Ontario and Quebec or close down altogether, including Radical Entertainment’s closure last week. The city’s creative community is reeling and it isn’t immediately clear how to alleviate the dire situation.