And here we are again, sitting typing about yet another game studio shut down because of, and say it with me, corporate greed.
This time around, the big bad of the story is none other than Avalanche Studios, the developers best known for the Just Cause series. They are closing down two studios and laying off all those employees.
In a statement, they said:
Since its inception over two decades ago, Avalanche Studios Group has grown to encompass five locations worldwide: Stockholm, New York, Malmo, Liverpool, and Montreal.
Today, we regretfully announce the closure of two locations: New York and Montreal. This means we’ll be parting ways with around 50 valued friends and colleagues, representing roughly 9% of Avalanchers worldwide.
This is an exceptionally difficult decision, but we believe it’s necessary to ensure a stable and sustainable future for the company.
From reading this, I know it sounds like just Avalanche Studios closed one of its offices, but that’s not entirely true.
See, the Montreal office they refer to was founded in October 2023 after Avalanche Studios acquired Monster Closet, a studio founded in 2021 by veterans of Ubisoft.
That means the studio has been shut down in eight months since acquiring Monster Closet.
I’m not going to lie. This situation is becoming more and more bleak by the day. I hope that, at some point, the gaming industry realises that game development studios are not Pokemon and that you don’t need to catch them all.