Wargaming Seattle, the studios behind the popular game World of Tanks, closes its doors due to moves made by the parent company, and international game developer, Wargaming.net.
Reportedly, this will leave 150 game developers to be unemployed. The parent company is making efforts to recruit and re-employ them via the hashtag #WGJobs. The hashtag previously appeared in late 2016, after Wargaming shut down its Bellevue-based mobile game studio WGCells.
Wargaming hasn’t yet confirmed or publicly acknowledged the plan to shutter the studio, but the news was leaked via the employees and others in the industry.
an anonymous employee told Gamasutra that Wargaming’s CEO Victor Kislyi announced the Wargaming Seattle closure at a surprise all-hands meeting Wednesday morning. Sources differ on whether the shutdown is effective immediately or will occur over the next two months.
Wargaming Seattle is the Redmond-based studio formerly known as Gas Powered Games. It was founded as Gas Powered Games in 1998 by Chris Taylor and other former Cavedog devs.
Gas Powered Games is well known for Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander and was acquired by Wargaming in 2013, after Gas Powered Games failed to meet a Kickstarter goal the year prior.
A representative of Wargaming offered the following statement on the studio closure:
“I can confirm that Wargaming will be closing their Redmond development studio as part of the company’s restructuring process. Every member of the 150-strong team that has been working on an unannounced MMO project will be offered a severance package. Wargaming will be assisting the current employees of the Redmond studio if they decide to apply for open positions in other offices within the company. We would like to express our gratitude and thank everyone on the team for their hard work.”
Chris Taylor left the studio in 2016 and opened his own indie game studio.
Sad to hear that Wargaming Seattle is closing. So many amazing and talented people in that studio. I want to wish them all the best and know in my heart they will soon embark on their next great adventure!
— Chris Taylor (@DeathBot9) May 24, 2018
What will Happen to World of Tanks?
World of Tanks is available for free on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It remains to be seen what effect if any this shutdown will have on World of Tanks franchise as a whole.
Twitter Chatter for #WGJobs
Game developers are uniting on Twitter, helping each other out with support and job offers. Check out some of the Tweets!
Apparently, there is a hashtag going around for myself and others laid off today #WGJobs. If you’re in the #gamesindustry feel free to give a shout and I can point you in some direction for folks in all sorts of disciplines and roles.
And of course I am still looking as well 🙂
— Warlock Rakaul (@WarlockRakaul) May 23, 2018
Sorry to hear about what’s happening with #WGSeattle! How about a change of air? The Mediterranean maybe? Check our open positions and in the same time forget about the sad news! #WGjobs pic.twitter.com/rWTXcjZRvn
— Nuked Cockroach (@NukedCockroach) May 24, 2018
Sincerely sorry for the 160 talented devs affected by the shut down of Wargaming Seattle today. 2K is hiring in all our studios, including Seattle. #wgjobs https://t.co/vwp9OMFUa7
— Brooke Grabrian (@2KGameRecruiter) May 24, 2018
Always sad to hear about a studio shutting down. Hope everyone from #WGJobs lands on their feet. We have a couple of openings if you’re a Tech Artist or Engineer looking for a remote opportunity: https://t.co/J58pz1xlzT
— Ghostly Bear Games, LLC (@GhostlyBearGame) May 23, 2018
Very sad to hear about @WarSeattle. For those looking for new opportunites, we’d love to hear from you. Check our our available positions here;
–> https://t.co/hLkUInWN00 <–
We’re rooting for you all. #WGJobs
— V1 Interactive (@V1Interactive) May 24, 2018
Very sorry to folks impacted by Wargaming Seattle shutting down. We have some open positions in Bungie (Bellevue) https://t.co/ORJKAJKsZi #WGjobs #gamejobs
— Sharad Cornejo (@krolth45) May 24, 2018
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