Elixir Games Shuts Doors

<FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>PC and Xbox developer, Elixir Studios, has ceased its day to day operations and will be closing its doors. Founded in 1998, Elixir Studios was another independent developer with big plans using original ideas, but apparently that just wasn't enough. <BR><BR>Evil Genius was an RTS for the PC, released in October 2004 to good reviews, but which never really caught on. With the upcoming shift to next generation systems, the company felt that trying to start an original intellectual property would be a bad move without some serious funding. It was with that decision that Elixir Games received more funding but has decided to use it to give their exiting staff severance packages.<BR><BR>Mark Hewitt, CEO said, "It is clearly a disappointing day for the team here, and for British independent developers in general, but we were extremely keen to wind things down on our terms and treat our employees and creditors properly and in a professional manner. It has been a real privilege working with such incredibly talented people, and I have nothing but admiration for our backers and the team here. We have a fantastic collection of people working at Elixir and other developers would be crazy not to snap them up immediately!"<BR><BR>Demis Hassabis, founder and Chairman added, "It has been an amazing roller-coaster ride. It's hard to believe that 7 years have flown by. I'm very proud of what all the staff at Elixir have achieved and the games we produced. We gave it everything we had but ultimately it wasn't quite enough. It seems that today's games industry no longer has room for small independent developers wanting to work on innovative and original ideas. Perhaps there is no longer any need for them. However, this was the sole purpose of setting up Elixir and something we could never compromise on by going down the licensing route." <BR><BR>Source: <A href="http://www.elixir-studios.co.uk/nonflash/press/elixir_press.htm" target=new>Press Release</A></FONT>