News

GREE shuts down Melbourne studio less than two years after it was first opened

Around 50 jobs lost, with more redundancies in Berlin and San Francisco

GREE shuts down Melbourne studio less than two years after it was first opened

GREE has reportedly shut down its Melbourne office just under two years after it was first opened.

According to Kotaku Australia, staff were told on July 7th 2017 that the studio would be shutting its doors. The entire workforce, around 50 people, has been made redundant as part of the closure.

The company's offices in Berlin and San Francisco have also reportedly been hit with redundancies, though it is currently unknown how much these studios have been affected.

Shuttered

GREE Melbourne was established in July 2015 after GREE International acquired indie games developer Twiitch. At the time of its acquisition, it employed around 20 members of staff.

In an interview earlier in 2017, GREE's Senior Vice President, Business & Corporate Development Shanti Bergel spoke excitedly about the Melbourne studio's upcoming game, which he said was "one of the more ambitious projects in the entire company".

The Melbourne studio lists Modern War, Crime City, Kingdom Age, DragonSoul, and Knights & Dragons as games it worked on. It seems that its untitled game was unable to see the light of the day before the studio was closed.


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