Iron Lore is no more

Titan Quest developer Iron Lore is closing up shop after putting the final touches on the Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War expansion titled Soulstorm.

“Several unrelated events occurred which resulted in Iron Lore being unable to secure funding for its next project,” Iron Lore posted on its site this past Wednesday (February 27, 2008).

The 2007 Immortal Throne expansion to Titan Quest was lauded by many critics for polishing the action-role playing formula influenced by Diablo. In its March 2007 release, Immortal Throne charted sixteenth, according to NPD sales figures. But, by April 2007, it had fallen out of the top 20.

If click-fests built for compulsive collectors aren’t your thing, and apparently you wouldn’t be alone, then no doubt you’re not all that interested in another add-on for an already bloated real-time strategy franchise.

Iron Lore was working on an iteration of a series Company of Heroes developer Relic had started in 2004. Titan Quest and Dawn of War are both published by THQ. A playable demo is available for Soulstorm. The game adds two factions (bringing the series to 9) and multiple units.

Iron Lore’s demise doesn’t confirm nor deny that PC games in general are dead, but the firm’s inability to turn build up investment dollars after such respected work in a once beloved niche doesn’t look great.

The post on the Iron Lore site also said the company is looking for homes for its staff and licensing takers for its properties.

We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who has helped us in the last seven years – our team who moved mountains to create such great games, our publisher THQ who has been a great partner through three product development cycles, and most of all our customers and fans.

Read [GameDaily Site [Iron Lore]