Tencent has shut down its TiMi Montreal studio less than five years after its founding, without the team releasing any games. The closure marks another retreat by Chinese publishers from investments in North American development. Employees expressed heartbreak over the end of the promising venture.
TiMi Montreal, established in 2021 as the third North American office for Tencent's TiMi Studio Group, focused on creating AAA open-world multi-platform games. The studio joined existing locations in Los Angeles and Seattle as part of TiMi's efforts to expand beyond mobile hits like Honor of Kings and Arena of Valor into larger blockbusters. However, it primarily handled projects inherited from its predecessor, Jade Studio, along with mobile spin-offs such as Pokémon Unite and Call of Duty: Mobile.
The studio was led by Ashraf Ismail, former creative director on Assassin's Creed Valhalla at Ubisoft, who joined TiMi in 2022 following his departure from Ubisoft in 2020 amid personal allegations. Despite attracting talent from studios like Ubisoft, TiMi Montreal never announced or shipped any original titles, nor disclosed involvement in recent co-developments.
News of the closure emerged late last week, around February 20, 2026, as reported by Game File, with sources indicating a shutdown was imminent. A senior gameplay programmer shared on LinkedIn: "I am genuinely heartbroken that the public will never get to experience what this team was capable of producing." Another employee, a senior designer, reflected: "This team was exceptional not just in talent, but also in camaraderie. It’s one of those experiences that sticks with you for a very long time, and I feel privileged to have been part of it."
The closure aligns with broader trends among Chinese publishers reducing investments in Western studios due to high development costs. TiMi's Los Angeles-based Team Kaiju, which included former leads from Halo and Battlefield, shut down in 2023. Competitors like NetEase have similarly scaled back recent studio startups. TiMi Group overall employs between 5000 and 10,000 people.