Funcom closing Beijing studio, layoffs in US and Canada

Funcom said today that it will follow up a new round of staff cuts at its Raleigh, North Carolina studio by closing its Beijing studio this year and reducing its headcount in Montreal.

In an update regarding its previously announced restructuring plans, the company said it's in the process of established a centralised live team at its Raleigh studio which will primarily focus on supporting and expanding existing MMO games Age of Conan, Anarchy Online and The Secret World.

Funcom's new product strategy will see it create “smaller, high quality online games with more limited budgets and shorter production timelines”.

The company said in a statement posted on its website: “As a natural result of the completion of the development on The Secret World, the Beijing studio, which primary responsibility was delivering art and animation to that project, will be closed down this year and the live team in Raleigh will be equipped with resources to produce visual assets for upcoming updates to the three live games.

“There has also been a staff reduction at the Raleigh studio in certain departments [and] the restructuring process includes a reduction in headcount at the Montreal studio”, which is at work on unannounced projects for tablets and mobiles.