Gumi withdraws from Canada, Germany, Sweden

[UPDATE]: Gumi cut a lot deeper than just the Vancouver office. A representative confirmed for GamesIndustry.biz that it has withdrawn entirely from Canada, Sweden, and Germany, and shut down studios in Austin and Hong Kong.

"Overall, we are continuing to run operations from our headquarters in Japan, with overseas operations in China, France, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, and the San Francisco office within the US," the representative said.

[Original Story]: Japanese mobile specialist gumi has closed its Vancouver office, less than two years after it opened.

Headed up by ex-Microsoft executive AJ Redmer as Vice President of Western Studios and Capcom veteran Chris Rowe, the studio opened in November 2014 with a view to building games aimed at both Western and global markets.

"We believe in a 'think global, act local' approach to mobile game development, which is focused on going beyond localization and developing unique games for each market," said Redmer at the time. "This includes hiring the best local talent and expertise in each market, and having our feet on the ground. By working closely with the B.C. government and opening a dedicated studio in Vancouver, we are able to execute on our vision of a worldwide company with a truly local development approach for each game we ship."

However, at the time of closing, the studio hadn't published any games.