Microsoft is closing its Victoria office in an effort to consolidate development studios in the British Columbia area, the company said.
"This was not an easy decision, but one guided by our desire to centralize development in our Vancouver Studios," Microsoft told IGN. "We are working closely with all employees affected by this change to identify open positions in other studios, and we remain committed to doing business in British Columbia."
The closing leaves 30 employees without work. The founding staff consisted of former members of two Canadian games studios, Black Box and Radical Games.
"We want to thank the Victoria community for all of their support," Microsoft told IGN. "We continue to view Victoria as a source of top talent for our industry and expect to continue to build upon our strong relationship with the University of Victoria as we seek to fill our future talent needs."
This isn't the first time the studio has been affected: Don Mattrick, former president of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, left the studio in July to accept the CEO position at PC software company Zynga.
“I think we all hoped they would continue to expand," Microsoft told the Times Colonist. "Don Mattrick was obviously a massive champion for that office and seeing him go caused us to take notice, but it’s tough to know the inner workings of a large corporate giant like Microsoft. When a head office is in another country and making large corporate decisions, often a smaller outpost can be a victim to a broader strategy.”
