Billed as North America’s first videogame business incubator, [URL=http://www.fortunecatgames.ca/]Fortune Cat Games Studios[/URL] is preparing to close up shop after four years of operation.

The Winnipeg, Canada-based initiative provided rent-free office space and computer systems to small project teams and hooked up the fledgling developers with mentors and contacts in order to advance their skill sets. According [URL=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/game-incubator-switched-off-100327654.html?]to a Winnipeg Free Press story[/URL], the non-profit is shuttering because it could not secure any funding for operations in 2011.

Federal funding for the incubator ceased about a year and a half ago, while provincial funds run out this year. The provincial government stated that it seeded the business with $662,954 between 2005 and 2010.

Fortune Cat’s Executive Director Ryan FitzGerald said about the closing, “I cannot blame anybody. The worst thing I can say is that we had the right idea, but bad timing for federal reasons and provincial reasons and for industry reasons.”
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