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Mobile and casual game developer Big Fish will shutter its Vancouver studio, lay off 49 Seattle staff and "realign" a further 79, GamesIndustry International reports.
In a letter from CEO and founder of Big Fish, Paul Thelen, sent out today to employees and obtained by GamesIndustry, the studio head outlined that Vancouver game development projects will be shifted to the Seattle studio. In addition, 49 employees from the Seattle office are being let go and more than 70 employees company-wide will be "realigned" to focus on its successful free-to-play casual and casino areas.
In its casual games business, the company will narrow its resources on the four largest languages English, French, German and Japanese. The company may close its facility in Cork as part of its decision to focus on the four languages and has entered a 30-day consultation with employees .
According to Thelen, Big Fish is discontinuing its premium cloud delivery business as adoption has been slower than expected and "is not on a path to profitability." Under the company-wide restructuring, John Holland will be appointed president and COO, taking over Dave Stevenson as president, who is departing the company for new a opportunity.
