When Koch acquired the studio in 2007, the company said it marked "new era for Deep Silver" as "Deep Silver Vienna will massively push our reputation as an independent publisher." Most recently, it co-developed the Cursed Mountain for Wii and PC.

"This decision is not easy for us," said Koch, which cited "the current overall economic situation" as the impetus and will consolidate Vienna's projects into its Munich office.

Reports suggest that the studio's twenty employees were caught off-guard by the news and will be paid through March, with co-founders Niki Laber having left in December and Hannes Seifer apparently moving on to Square Enix.