What Went Wrong with TiMi Montreal? Why Tencent Shuttered the Studio Without a Single Game Released

After operating for almost five years without releasing any significant projects to the public, TiMi Montreal, the aspirational division of Tencent’s TiMi Studio Group, quietly shut down in early 2026. Multiple sources have confirmed the news, which puts a sudden end to what was once thought to be a promising entry into the Western gaming market.

Established in 2021 with great expectations, the Montreal-based studio gained notoriety for being led by Ashraf Ismail, the former creative director of Assassin’s Creed by Ubisoft. Creating a triple-A open-world game that could compete with the best in the business was the studio’s clear goal. However, those hopes waned as the months passed without the studio releasing a game. Five years later, TiMi Montreal’s story serves as a warning about the intricacies of the gaming industry and a tale of untapped potential.

There was a lot of excitement when Ismail arrived at TiMi Montreal. He was a veteran, famous for his work on the Assassin’s Creed series, which is known for its complex narrative and open-world exploration. His participation implied that TiMi Montreal would push the envelope and possibly offer a novel gaming experience to the Eastern and Western markets. The studio was given the task of developing a daring and innovative “service-driven” game that would appeal to a wide variety of players on various platforms.

Notwithstanding these aspirations, the studio’s first and only major project—an open-world game that hasn’t been revealed yet—never got off the ground. According to people with knowledge of the studio’s operations, the closure wasn’t totally shocking. Long before the studio was officially closed, staff members, many of whom had worked there for years, knew something was wrong. An ex-employee even confirmed the news on LinkedIn, mentioning the team’s camaraderie while also admitting to a sense of quiet resignation.

A number of internal issues may have contributed to the game’s failure to be released. It takes a lot of work to create an open-world game from the ground up, and it’s important to recognize how difficult it can be to balance artistic ambition with practical constraints. According to reports, the TiMi Montreal team had trouble bringing the vision into line with the realistic requirements of game development. Tencent, one of the biggest game publishers in the world, has a reputation for making snap judgments regarding the feasibility of its projects, which added to the problem of constantly fluctuating expectations.

Apart from internal conflicts, TiMi Montreal’s closure also fits a larger trend in Tencent’s gaming investments. The success of the company’s foreign expansions has drawn more and more criticism. Tencent shut down its Team Kaiju studio in Los Angeles in 2023. The studio had been developing a AAA multiplayer game. Operating in the highly competitive world of international game development, where even the slightest error can cost millions of dollars, was a challenge that both studios faced.

Although little was known about the title, the Montreal studio had been working on what was referred to as a “ambitious open-world game” in 2025. Many had hoped it would be the TiMi Studio Group’s North American flagship project. However, speculation only exacerbated the frustration in the absence of specific details. Was there too much ambition in the game? Did the group encounter unforeseen technical difficulties or creative disagreements? Or was it just that their offerings were not yet ready for the market?

Notably, TiMi Montreal’s demise coincides with comparable difficulties at other significant studios. Due to changes in consumer behavior, technological breakthroughs, and a constantly shifting competitive environment, the gaming industry is undergoing significant change. TiMi Montreal’s failure to release a game in five years underscores the unpredictability of game development, even though Tencent’s other subsidiaries, such as Honor of Kings and Call of Duty: Mobile, are still doing well.

TiMi Studio Group still has a lot of potential for the future. With operations in Shanghai and Chengdu, among other places, it continues to be one of the most significant companies in the gaming industry, creating popular games like Pokémon Unite and Arena of Valor. The closure of TiMi Montreal, however, brings up significant issues regarding Tencent’s North American strategy. Will the company continue to reach out to new studios in an attempt to find the next big hit, or will they rethink how they approach Western game development?