Capcom Vancouver, the company’s main Western branch and the one responsible for the Dead Rising series, is shutting its doors. 158 employees will lose their jobs and a skeleton crew will run the company until it officially closes in January next year.

In a press release sent out yesterday, Capcom spoke about “the termination of development projects” at Capcom Vancouver. The publisher later said in a statement to Kotaku will be closed completely near the start of next year. In their official statement to Kotaku, they said:

As a result of reviewing titles in development at Capcom Vancouver, Capcom has decided to cancel the development projects at this studio and will concentrate development of major titles in Japan. A skeleton crew will remain until January 2019 to finalize closure operations and logistics.

Capcom Vancouver was a Western branch of Capcom founded in 2005. The branch was primarily known for the Dead Rising series, a third person action game series which pitted the player against hordes of zombies and the occasional deranged survivor. The first game was developed in Japan, but the three sequels were handled by Capcom Vancouver, and there were rumors back in mid-2017 of another sequel.

About 158 employees are losing their jobs due to the shutdown. However, the studio has been losing employees for some time now. A source told Kotaku that employees were leaving to join EA Vancouver. Back in February, layoffs hit the studio and 30% of the employees were let go. At the time a rep told Kotaku:

The team is continuing to work hard to support the recent release of Puzzle Fighter for mobile and is dedicated to its flagship Dead Rising series.

Puzzle Fighter was removed from the app store on July 1 and its servers were shut down July 31. The fate of the Dead Rising series and its possible sequel is currently up in the air.