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Timbre Games shut down as part of Sumo cost cutting

Timbre Games shut down as part of Sumo cost cutting

Vancouver-based Timbre Games is being closed down by Sumo Group. 

Following LinkedIn-fuelled speculation, the company provided confirmation on the platform saying that it was "devastated" to announce the news. Timbre said that it had previously "felt gratefully immune" to the wave of layoffs and studio closures the industry has faced in recent years, but said that reality had "caught up" with both the developer and parent company Sumo. 

This studio closure comes alongside Sumo Group announcing that it was laying off 15% of its workforce. 

"Today is an incredibly difficult day for all of us at Timbre. We are devastated to share that Timbre Games Studio is closing, and we need to say goodbye to the most talented, diverse, and incredible team in games," the company wrote. 

"Teams and studios like Timbre rarely come along, and it's important to note that this is in no way a reflection of our talented, hard-working people.
They have all been exceptional. It has been our privilege to have been able to work alongside each one of them.

"We're so grateful that they decided to join us on our journey and proud of the work they've done - propelling us to win Best Place to Work in Canada 2 years in a row. We still believe deeply in the mission we started Timbre with: to make it easy for players to feel awesome, to create games that make the complex accessible, and to build a diverse team that brings new voices and innovative ideas to our games.

"Today is about taking care of the most important thing - our world class team. You will not find a team with more chemistry, creativity and passion anywhere." 

Timbre Games was set up in 2021 by Pipework Studios, which Sumo has owned since 2020. 


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.