Red 5 fights on despite engine axe

Red 5, the MMO studio founded by former Blizzard employees, has assured it is still working on an untitled project powered by a now-defunct engine.

"Red 5 Studios is still at work on our first title," a company spokesperson said, as quoted by Gamasutra, adding that the project has not been put on hold.

“While we are using a highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine, the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project,” the firm added.

Red 5, based out in California, has in recent months been placed in an unbecoming spotlight by the games media.

This year the group had reportedly laid off around 30 staff, as well as subjected to a $20 takeover by Chinese MMO operator The9 – a move which sparked accusations of sharp project U-turns.

In early 2006 Red 5 said it would license out the Offset Engine. This was before the tech – and engineering group behind it – was acquired by Intel some two years later.

This year Intel said it was abandoning the Offset Engine, axing the team responsible, and shutting down a game based on the tech.