Warner Bros cans This is Vegas - report

Warner Bros has apparently pulled the plug on open-world title This is Vegas, after a total of $50 million (£32.38m) was spent on its development. Developer Surreal Studios had already been closed earlier this year.

The game, which Warner Bros inherited as part of its $33 million (£21.3m) acquisition of Midway's assets last year, had already cost Midway $43 million (£27.85m) by the time the company folded, and was running at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars a month.

The report, from Computer and Videogames quotes a 'cast iron' source as saying: "It was moving along to a point where the title was on the schedule for release late last year - but still needed another eight months to a year to finish.

"It's a ridiculous waste of money, a silly budget when you think that games like Konami's Saw - which made profit - were built with around $3m."

It's not the first time that rumours have arisen about the future of the project, however. Only three weeks ago, Warner denied that the project had been closed, despite US retailers saying that they would be returning money paid for pre-orders of the game.

Warner Bros has been contacted for an official statement.