Take 2 forced to shut internal development studio

Take-Two has announced the official closure of Amped developer Indie Built, citing uncertainty surrounding the console transition as the main reason for the studio's demise.

Originally established as Access Software back in 1982, the Salt Lake City-based studio was particularly renowned for its work on the Links golf series, and was acquired by Microsoft in 1999.

Indie Built has shipped over 37 titles on seven different platforms, and the studio was acquired by Take-Two in 2004 with ambitions of "focusing on sports titles for the next generation of gaming consoles and the PC platform."

The studio created the popular Links 2004 for the original Xbox console, and more recently worked on extreme sports title Amped 3 for the Xbox 360, which failed to achieve any notable commercial success and was one of the first next-gen titles to receive retail price cuts.

According to a report on US website Gamasutra.com, Take-Two's director of corporate communications, Jim Ankner, commented: "Employees are being offered packages including continuation of salary and benefits, as well as other opportunities within Take-Two as appropriate," although an unspecified number of job losses are likely as a result of the closure.

The studio also co-developed next-gen tennis title Top Spin 2 with PAM, and whilst Take-Two retains the rights to the Amped, Top Spin and Links, there has been no confirmation to date on development of any future titles in either of the franchises.