Iron Lore boss: We got caught, were toast

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.