Rockstar Vancouver merged into Toronto team

Take Two Interactive has announced a studio shuffle within Rockstar Games.

Rockstar Vancouver, which led multi-studio development of Max Payne 3 as well as producing Bully, will be closed; the 35-man team will relocate to join colleagues from Rockstar Toronto.

The two teams will function as one under the Toronto appellation in a new, larger office location.

The move seems to be a way of consolidating Rockstar's Canadian development efforts rather than a closure of any kind, as Rockstar expects to employ more staff as a result, and the move was made in collaboration with the Ontario government on undisclosed financial terms.

The shuffle is not expected to have much impact on Rockstar's development process, which regularly involves teams from half a dozen studios working collaboratively on single releases.