Capcom has officially closed its Vancouver-based studio, the company revealed Tuesday morning. According to Capcom's official numbers over 150 Capcom Vancouver employees have been laid off as a result of the studio's closure, with only a "skeleton crew" remaining until January 2019 to manage any lingering operations issues. The studio was closed as a result of Capcom's plans to "concentrate development of major titles in Japan."

All ongoing projects previously in development at Capcom Vancouver have been canceled, though the nature of those projects remains unclear. Capcom Vancouver is known for the development of Dead Rising 2, 3, and 4, as well as the 2017 release of Puzzle Fighter. Its newest project was assumed to be Dead Rising 5, though barring any leaks that may never be confirmed.

Capcom Vancouver's closure marks the end of a tumultuous period for the studio since the release of Dead Rising 4 failed to meet sales expectations. Around February earlier this year, around 20% of Capcom Vancouver's workforce was laid off, dropping the studio below 200 employees. As is clear from today's employee count from Capcom, that number continued to decrease over the months since. The studio's closure may have been an inevitability.

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From now on, Capcom will be focusing its development resources into its core Japanese studio. Capcom is primarily comprised of three internal divisions, each responsible for different franchises. It's unclear which division will have Dead Rising folded into it, or if Dead Rising has a future at all, but it's safe to say that any potential sequel will likely be very different from the franchise in the past.

Capcom has gone through many changes over the past year, with the closure of Capcom Vancouver proving to be the latest and largest move for the company. Capcom announced that Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite's online services are being shut down this October following just over a year of availability, and has since followed it up by replacing Yoshinori Ono with Ryozo Tsujimoto as head of the fighting game division. Meanwhile, the Monster Hunter franchise has been broadened and refocused with western audiences in mind. All the while Capcom continues to expand its DLC and microtransactions in its games.

Capcom in 2018 is a much different company than Capcom in 2017 or prior, for better or worse.

Source: Kotaku