Activision Closes Budcat Creations

Activision closes Iowa City based Budcat Creations.

Iowa based developer Budcat Creations has been shuttered by parent company Activision. Approximetly 70 employees have been impacted by the closure.

Activision released the following statement yesterday,

"We continue to streamline our music development resources to ensure that they are aligned against our slate and strategic goals," the statement reads. "As a result, we are implementing a targeted reduction in jobs in our Quality Assurance team in California and closing our Budcat studio in Iowa."

"Budcat has been a great partner to Activision and has created a lasting impact on the Guitar Hero franchise," it continues. "Approximately 88 positions, or approximately 1% of our global workforce, will be impacted by these reductions. We are working to redirect those employees that are impacted to other parts of the company where possible, as well as offering them outplacement counseling services."

An anonymous former employee told PC Gamer that the severance packages employees received "are very generous" but they would prefer to continue working instead.

Budcat Creations was founded in 2000 in Iowa City, Iowa by former EA Tiburon employees. Budcat initially ported titles for EA but later partnered with Majesco to produce new IP's for the publisher. The studio was acquired by Activision in 2008 and has since released various Guitar Hero ports. The company has most recently released Pix Maze for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.