Worcester Polytechnic Institute will take over the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute after Becker College, MassDiGI s host, closes following the end of the spring semester.
WPI previously offered to host the video game center when Becker announced in late March it would close its doors because of financial difficulties. That was made official in an announcement at the center on Monday.
Timothy Loew, the MassDiGI founder and executive director, called the institute and WPI a perfect match. Like Becker, WPI, located only a few blocks away, has an internationally renown video game design program, which started in 2004 as one of the first such undergraduate degree programs in game design.
Just days after Clark University in Worcester announced it would establish the Becker School of Design & Technology, aimed at absorbing a portion of programming at Becker College, which is closing after the spring semester, Clark has received $250,000 in seed funding for the initiative.
The funding was provided by several Worcester-based foundations, including The Fuller Foundation, according to an announcement from the school. Clark did not detail other organizations involved in providing the funds.
“Clark is grateful for this early support and for the confidence these Worcester leaders have in the future of the Becker School of Design & Technology,” said Clark University president David Fithian, in a statement. “This helps us set the Becker School on a solid course for decades to come.”