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150 staff laid off as Wargaming Seattle closes down

Up to 150 jobs to be affected

150 staff laid off as Wargaming Seattle closes down

World of Tanks developer Wargaming is closing down its Seattle studio in a move that will affect as many as 150 staff.

The word initially broke out on Twitter but was shortly confirmed by former lead UX designer Michael Schorr on his account.

Another former Wargaming Seattle dev told Gamasutra that a surprise "all-hands" meeting was called at the studio. During that meeting Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi informed the team the entire studio would be shut down.

#WGJobs

Fellow industry developers have since resurrected the hashtag #WGJobs to try and help their peers land on their feet.

The hashtag was initially started in late 2016 after Wargaming shut down its Seattle-based mobile game studio WGCells, which itself led to 60 jobs being lost.

Following on, Wargaming moved to re-establish its mobile business by acquiring Finland-based Super Soldiers developer Boomlagoon and thereafter established a new mobile game development and publishing division called Wargaming Mobile.

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Staff Writer

Iain is a freelance writer based in Scotland with a penchant for indies and all things Nintendo. Alongside PocketGamer.Biz, he has also appeared in Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, PCGamesN and VG24/7.