Japanese publishing firm Capcom has announced the closure of one of its Canadian studios.

The company said that Capcom Game Studio Vancouver has been given the axe. The development house is best known for titles in markets outside of Japan including Dead Rising.

While it is currently looking at relocating employees to other roles in the company, about 158 people are losing their jobs.

Capcom says this comes as the firm tries to be a more efficient operation. The studio will finally close in January of next year, with a small number of staff on board to assist with this process.

The firm says about $40m will be lost in the termination of multiple projects at the studio. In the release Capcom says that this will not affect its financial results for the year due to a number of factors, including "continued robust performance" of Monster Hunter World's PC SKU.

“Capcom has been focused on increasing the efficiency and growth of its game development operations,” a rep for the firm told Variety.

“To support this objective, new R&D facilities and annual hiring have been underway at the Osaka headquarters. In consideration of this process, as a result of reviewing titles in development at Capcom Vancouver, Capcom has decided to cancel the development projects at this studio and will concentrate development of major titles in Japan.”

“As part of this overall direction, the Capcom Vancouver studio will suspend operations, effective today, so the current staff will be laid off and the office will be closed.”