GREE to close UK office

Japanese mobile games firm GREE will pull out of the UK as it restructures its business across Europe.

According to Tech Crunch UK the firm has proposed to shut down the team it was building in central London.

Last summer the firm announced formal plans to open a UK office and studios in England (after running a stealth team in the capital for a year prior), with the move even praised by chancellor George Osborne.

At the time, MCV revealed that other firms – such as Konami and Microsoft – were also opening new game offices in the capital.

But today, a statement from the firm says: Due to the challenging economic climate and on-going changes within the interactive industry, GREE has proposed to close its UK office.

This decision is being considered in order to focus on developing content from the United States of America for the Western market.”

GREE has seen significant growth since it was founded in December 2004, but during 2013 the GREE board have found it necessary to re-assess and streamline the global business with a view to consolidating certain functions.

This realignment of the business is a necessity to ensure that GREE can continue to invest and enhance its business offering moving forward. The management team are confident that the proposed restructure of the business will benefit the company due to the changing nature of the digital industry over the coming years.”

GREE has a big social network service in Japan, but was planning to make content for the mobile markets in the West to grow its business.