Key Notes
- CEO Steven Chiang confirmed Fortis Games’ closure to GamesBeat, which reports that up to 440 jobs could be affected rather than providing a final count.
- A Fortis employee says Las Vegas Sands ended funding and terminated contracts worldwide, while a detailed explanation from the owner remains unavailable.
- Twilight Towers was already scheduled to lose server access on November 16, with recent-purchase refund requests directed to Apple and Google.
Fortis Games is closing, with as many as 440 jobs affected at the mobile developer and publisher backed by Las Vegas Sands. CEO Steven Chiang confirmed the shutdown to GamesBeat after employees began announcing their departures on LinkedIn.
Chiang told GamesBeat that Fortis had not achieved the goals it set at the start of its journey and was now focused on helping its team find new opportunities. The outlet’s figure of up to 440 affected jobs is an estimate, rather than a final company-confirmed total.
Staff Say Sands Ended Funding
Game-production employee Gustavo Coronet wrote that Las Vegas Sands had stopped funding Fortis and terminated contracts worldwide. His post describes an abrupt end to the company’s work, with employees across its international operation looking for new roles.
Communications director Scott Butterworth also said the company had shut, putting more than 400 people out of work, according to GamesBeat. These accounts describe the scale of the disruption, but Las Vegas Sands has not set out a detailed public explanation for the decision in the reporting reviewed.
That distinction matters when discussing the cause. One Fortis game had already been scheduled for closure because of weak player retention. The company-wide decision affects a broader operation, and there is no published financial breakdown establishing why its owner withdrew support.
A Global Studio Built With Sands Backing
Fortis was publicly unveiled in March 2022 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands. Its launch announcement said it already had more than 150 employees and would be fully financed by the resort operator as it built a global development and publishing business.
The founding team combined experience from major game companies. Chiang had led worldwide studios at Warner Bros. Games and held senior roles at Electronic Arts and Zynga. Co-founders Shawn Foust and Calvin Lau took the chief operating officer and chief product officer roles.
Acquisitions gave the company teams in several established development markets: Doppio Games in Portugal, Oktagon Games in Brazil and Metagame in Romania. Its plan centered on socially connected games with ongoing development and communities that would keep returning.
The March 2022 announcement marks Fortis’ public launch, while Chiang described the underlying journey as beginning more than five years ago. The two dates refer to different stages of the company’s development.
We also reported on Bandai Namco’s decision to close Reflector Entertainment, another recent shutdown affecting a publisher-owned development team.
Twilight Towers Already Had a Shutdown Date
For players, the clearest published timetable concerns Twilight Towers. Fortis’ November 4 notice scheduled its servers to go offline on November 16, after removing the game from app stores and disabling in-app purchases. Existing installations were to remain playable until the shutdown.
The team said player retention had remained too weak to sustain the game despite new features and redesigned systems. Operating it required continued spending on development, content, servers and support.
Players seeking refunds for recent purchases were directed to the Apple App Store or Google Play. Approval was not guaranteed. The notice also said Fortis planned to keep support reachable through November 30, a commitment published before the company-wide closure.
Fortis’ website also lists Mergemon Wilds and Bloom & Breakfast. The closure reporting does not establish whether those projects or the acquired teams will continue under another owner, leaving their future unresolved.
