Razorworks to close

Develop has received word that Razorworks, the last internal development house of publisher Empire Interactive, is set to shut its doors – or be sold – in the coming days.

According to our sources, all of the studio’s 30 staff were informed yesterday of the decision by Empire management, which has been taken due to company financials. The Kidlington, Oxfordshire-based developer had previously worked on Xbox Live Arcade versions of Speedball 2 and Double Dragon, and had also worked on Ford Racing Off Road.

The move has come as a shock to the employees as the company was actively recruiting for a new Wii title that had been green-lit and was currently in pre-production. According to the studio’s website, the game was to represent "a new beginning for Razorworks as we look to broaden the strengths of the studio by developing a range of character-based, game-play focused titles for the Wii."

Despite several attempts to contact Empire, Develop has not been able to receive a statement or clarification from the company. Razorworks declined to provide a comment on the story, but did confirm to us that the studio is closing its doors.