Gamasutra has learned that WG Cells, the mobile developer formerly known as DropForge Games in Bellevue, has closed up shop.
Word began to circulate on Twitter today that the studio had laid off all 60+ employees. We were able to confirm with sources close to the studio that it has indeed been shut down.
WG Cells was founded in 2013 by David Bluhm, which received full funding from Wargaming to act as the World of Tanks’ developer’s experiment in mobile. In 2015, DropForge was renamed WG Cells in a closer partnership with Wargaming.
At this time, Wargaming has not stated if WG Cells’ operations in Cyprus have been suspended. We will update this story as we learn more details.
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Update: Wargaming has confirmed WG Cells’ closure, and provided the following statement to Gamasutra.
“As a part of a consolidation and re-alignment, the current game development and publishing operations at WG Cells will be discontinued or transitioned to other Wargaming locations and re-focused in other regions. These changes will occur over the next few weeks while some of the current WG Cells personnel and development activities will be absorbed into other Wargaming offices.
Mobile game development remains a critical pillar of Wargaming’s strategy, and after an examination of the market, Wargaming will consolidate its efforts in other geographies and around other in-house teams which operate closer to or in the key growing mobile markets.
The move is intended to make Wargaming more agile and keenly focused on a global mobile market that is ever-changing. This will also improve the company’s ability to react to new trends and technologies.
Wargaming remains fully committed to growing in the Seattle area with expanding PC game studio operations at Wargaming Seattle Studios (formerly Gas Powered Games located in Redmond, WA) and Wargaming’s newest technology platform development operation in Kirkland, WA.”