Tencent Shuts Studio After 5 Years With No Games
▼ Summary
– TiMi Montreal, a Tencent-backed studio, is shutting down less than five years after opening without ever releasing a game.
– The closure appears to be part of a broader trend of Chinese publishers reducing investment in North American game development studios.
– The studio was founded in 2021 to develop AAA open-world, multi-platform games as part of TiMi’s expansion beyond mobile hits.
– It recruited high-profile talent, including former Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail, but never publicly announced a project.
– The shutdown follows the earlier closure of TiMi’s Team Kaiju and reflects industry concerns over high development costs and reduced investment.
The recent closure of TiMi Montreal, a high-profile studio backed by Chinese tech giant Tencent, marks a significant shift in the global gaming investment landscape. Opened in 2021 with ambitions to create AAA open-world, multi-platform games, the studio shut its doors without ever publicly announcing or releasing a single title. This move is seen as part of a broader trend where major Chinese publishers are scaling back their financial commitments to North American development teams, a strategy once pursued to tap into Western talent and market potential.
News of the shutdown emerged through social media posts from affected employees, with one programmer expressing profound disappointment that the public would never see the team’s work. The studio was described as a collection of exceptionally skilled and dedicated individuals, highlighting the human cost behind such strategic pivots. TiMi Montreal was established as the third North American outpost for TiMi Studio Group, the developer behind massive mobile successes like Honor of Kings and Arena of Valor. Its founding represented a clear ambition to transition from mobile gaming into the premium console and PC blockbuster arena.
A key part of the studio’s strategy involved recruiting top talent from established developers, most notably from Ubisoft’s extensive Montreal operations, known for franchises like Assassin’s Creed. This recruitment drive included bringing on board Ashraf Ismail, the former creative director for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, in 2022. However, despite assembling a team with impressive credentials, TiMi Montreal operated in near-total secrecy, never detailing any specific projects or revealing its role in supporting other games within the TiMi ecosystem.
This closure is not an isolated incident for TiMi’s North American expansion. Its Los Angeles-based studio, Team Kaiju, which had also recruited veteran developers from major franchises like Halo and Battlefield, was shut down in 2023. The retreat from these costly ventures reflects growing industry concerns over the high expense of game development in Western markets, particularly the United States and Canada. Competitors like NetEase have similarly pulled back investments in several studio startups over the past few years, signaling a more cautious and consolidated approach from Chinese gaming giants after a period of aggressive overseas expansion.
(Source: Kotaku)
