U4iA Games, the studio founded by Activision vets, is closing

U4iA Games, a studio set up by Activision veterans back in 2011, has been suddenly closed down with little warning to its employees. The studio was formed by former Activision publishing head Dusty Welch and former Activision Publishing executive producer Chris Archer at the end of 2011, and aimed to create first-person social games. The company's first game, Offensive Combat, was released for browsers and mobile in 2012, and the game has been regularly updated since then. Now in a new blog post, the team says that "with a heavy heart" it has been forced to close down. Although no details were given with regards to why the studio is closing, U4iA's social director Jeremy Dunham tweeted that the team "found out in the blink of an eye," suggesting that the move was quite out of the blue. As a result, it would appear that the team of around 26 staffers is now out of work, and looking for new positions starting immediately. Dunham has told Gamasutra, "We were notified today in the afternoon that we will no longer be operating as of January 15, and we messaged everybody publicly with that same info not too long afterwards." Gamasutra is currently talking to the team to find out what happened, and will update this post with more information soon.