14 DAY TRIAL // We live in financially tough times, and it seems that if a company doesn't make a considerable profit these days, its fate won't be very good. We've already seen the recession claim a pretty important gaming studio, as Free Radical, the company behind Haze or Timesplitters, has been shut down, and now, it seems that another studio will follow.
This time, some anonymous sources seem to point out that the developer of Lair or the Star Wars Rogue Squadron series, Factor 5, will be closing down soon. Although at first the rumors indicated that the executives in charge had fired half of its workforce, now it looks like things have taken a turn for the worse, and that the studio has been completely shut down.
Factor 5 has made no official statements yet, but Matt Casamassina from IGN claims that an anonymous source reported that the studio was indeed closed. “We just learned from inside sources that developer Factor 5 has officially closed their doors as of today.” Although all these things aren't yet confirmed, it does seem likely, considering the fact that Lair didn't do so well in terms of sales, and that the Star Wars game wasn't well received by the big fan base.
Also, some time ago, Sam Baker, an animator working for Factor 5, reported on his blog that the company had some very serious financial problems, but, as soon as major gaming publications took up that story, the blog post was deleted, presumably under the pressure of the executives of the Factor 5.
If it does turn out to be true, it would be a real shame, as Factor 5 showed quite a lot of promise, but it will be a grave warning for other studios to do everything they can in order to survive through these financially troubled times.