Report: Capcom Closes Studio 8 U.S. Development Team

According to a report by consumer website GameSpot, and backed up by independent Gamasutra sources, Japanese publisher Capcom has closed its North American development house Studio 8, which was housed internally within Capcom's U.S. headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. The studio has been responsible for the well critically received Ghosts ‘n Goblins spin-off series Maximo as well as the more recent, less critically acclaimed Final Fight: Streetwise. Around twenty staff are alleged to have lost their jobs in the closure, although the process is implied not to be as a result of the poor performance of Streetwise alone, with GameSpot’s source indicating that a decision not to continue the Maximo series had likely been taken some time ago. Capcom have so far refused to comment on the situation, which is in some ways at odds with the company’s recently stated desire to create more games appealing directly to a Western audience, though they will now presumably cultivate Western-centric titles through some other method.