A new report from Game File points to the latest source of video game industry layoffs, this time coming from Tencent and its TiMi Montreal studio. In this case, the whole studio is getting shut down, leading to everyone on the team seemingly losing their roles nearly five years after the studio was founded with the intention of creating "AAA open-world multi-platform games."
Game File's report comes after a now-deleted LinkedIn post from one of the studio's programmers shared that the studio had been shuttered, with employees having been aware of the situation "for some time." They also added that they are "genuinely heartbroken that the public will never get to experience what this team was capable of producing."
Tencent and TiMi Group have not yet commented on the closure, nor has anything surfaced regarding what the Montreal-based studio was working on beyond its initial disclosure that it would look to make "a AAA open world, service-focused video game for players to explore across multiple platforms."
What we did know about the studio was that it was led by the former head of the Assassin's Creed franchise, Ashraf Ismail, who was fired from Ubisoft following an investigation into misconduct allegations.
This is now the latest bit of layoff news from the video game industry in 2026, and the fourth studio shut down this year after PlayStation's shuttering of Bluepoint Games, Ubisoft's shuttering of its Halifax Studio, and Hasbro's shuttering of its Atomic Arcade team.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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