News: But its parent company lives on.
Factor 5 has announced they will be closing their doors after 21 years in the game business according to a notice on their official website. The notice, written by Factor 5 CEO Achim Moller, reads:
We are sorry to announce the closure of the San Rafael-based Factor 5 Inc. studio, but the obstacles created by the sudden bankruptcy of Brash Entertainment for the continuation of operations have turned out too great to overcome in the current economic climate.
But Factor 5 is not completely finished, the notice continued with the news that Factor 5's parent company, Factor 5 GmbH, will still operate out of their Cologne, Germany headquarters. They will also continue production of the company's debut game for the Wii (rumored to be a new entry in the
Kid Icarus series).
Developing a Wii game was seen as a homecoming of sorts as Factor 5 was best known for their work on the
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series on the Nintendo 64 and GameCube. Their most recent efforts include Virtual Console ports of three games in the
Turrican series and the PS3 dragon-riding game
Lair.
As mentioned in the notice above, Factor 5 was working with Brash Entertainment on a Superman game until Brash's sudden bankruptcy. It's unlikely this game will ever see the light of day, but Factor 5 will live on.
We'll have more soon.