Offensive Combat developer U4iA Games closes

Washington-based U4iA Games, founded by former Call of Duty leads Dusty Welch and Chris Archer, will close today, according to creative and social director Jeremy Dunham in an announcement on the company's website.

According to Dunham's post on the company's blog, at least 26 jobs have been lost as a result of the closure and Jan. 15 will be the last day of operations for U4iA Games.

"Our sincere apologies to all of our fantastic, supportive fans over these last few years — we wish we could have done better for you," Dunham wrote. "Thank you very much for your support and we hope to see you again on the other side."

The studio revealed its first project mid-2012, a free-to-play browser-based FPS called Offensive Combat. The game was a non-traditional shooter aimed to bring console-quality games to browsers. The FPS launched on Facebook January last year after entering open beta approximately three months prior.

Welch told Polygon in 2012 that Offensive Combat's core concept is a "very serious eSports competitive game that MLG and others will want to run tournaments for." The developer announced a partnership with Major League Gaming several months later where Offensive Combat was added to MLG's Gamebattles platform. The arrangement allowed players to launch the game directly from the tournament site.

Polygon has reached out to U4iA Games for further information and will update this post as more information comes to hand.