Tag Archives: iron lore

The Kickstarter campaigns for Crate Entertainment’s Grim Dawn and Jane Jensen’s Moebius have ended with both projects surpassing set funding goals.

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Former Iron Lore staffer Arthur Bruno has said Titan Quest 2 was on the cards, but was thrown over for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

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Crate Entertainment has posted a first look at combat in Grim Dawn via some pre-alpha footage.

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Crate Entertainment has announced its currently at work on a new action-RPG similar in style to Diablo called Grim Dawn.

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Iron Lore co-founder Paul Chieffo has given an interview to GameBanshee on the reasons behind the rather depressing news that the developer was forced to close in February.

“The short answer is that we were unable to secure a follow on contract to Dawn of War – Soulstorm and were therefore unable to continue as a company,” he said. “We essentially got caught in the gap between projects, which is always a risk for developers because any potential backend revenue due to royalties comes long after a project ships, if at all, while payroll is needed immediately, of course.

“So to survive, a developer must bring in a steady stream of projects, and if the gap is slightly too long between the ending of the current project and the start of a new one, you’re toast. That’s essentially what happened to us. We had a very exciting project we were pitching to publishers and getting a lot of interest in, but late last year several interested parties abruptly dropped out for various reasons. There was still interest from other parties, but we were unable to close a deal with them before the money ran out.”

We really do wish Iron Lore was still around. Our wrists still haven’t recovered from Titan Quest.

Michael Fitch, creative boss at THQ, has no illusions as to why Titan Quest developer Iron Lore closed down: piracy was to blame, he said.

“We didn’t lose money on it,” he says. “But if even a tiny fraction of the people who pirated the game had actually spent some god-damn money for their 40+ hours of entertainment, things could have been very different today.”

He added, “Some really good people made a seriously good game, and they might still be in business if piracy weren’t so rampant on the PC. That’s a fact.”

He went on to say that “piracy rate at between 70-85% on PC in the US, 90%+ in Europe, off the charts in Asia.”

Not so good. You need to take a long hard look in the mirror. Yes, YOU.

Worst news ever. Iron Lore, the studio behind Diablo-clone Titan Quest and the upcoming Soulstorm expansion to Relic’s Dawn of War, has closed down, the studio has just confirmed.

“It is with great regret that we must announce that as of close of business Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Iron Lore Entertainment has ceased active game development,” said a statement on the company’s site. “Several unrelated events occurred which resulted in Iron Lore being unable to secure funding for its next project.

“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. We owe all of the success we’ve had to you, and our greatest satisfaction has come from creating games that have given enjoyment to the community.

“While Iron Lore will not continue, the talent of the team is embodied in the individuals now available for other opportunities. If you are a developer or publisher looking to hire top-notch experienced developers, please send an email to pchieffo “at” ironlore “dot” com and we will be happy to facilitate recruiting with you.

“Iron Lore also owns it’s powerful and flexible engine and tool set, and is actively pursuing licensing opportunities. If you are interested in further information about the technology and licensing options, please contact pchieffo “at” ironlore “dot” com.”

We’re playing Titan Quest at the moment. It’s wicked, so this makes us genuinely sad. Good luck to you all.