Asylum Entertainment clears up closure rumours

Contrary to earlier reports, development studio Asylum Entertainment has not been forced to shut down and work continues on several projects - although the cancellation of a Lego project has caused some layoffs.

A number of people claiming to be ex-staff from the company had contacted us this morning stating that the studio as a whole had been put into liquidation - a claim flatly denied by the company this afternoon.

"We are still busy developing games and generating brand franchises - and will be doing so into the fore-see able future," Asylum's Nick Holden told gi.biz. "Whilst it is never good that a finished game is cancelled by a publisher, it does not mean that we are closing our doors. Unfortunately, it has meant that we have had to part company with some staff that were working on the LEGO project, but this was unavoidable."

The studio is still on track to release survival horror title Curse: The Eye of Isis later this year, with another product based around a wholly-owned intellectual property, Kid Ninja, due in 2004.