Black Rock sale attempted, no buyer found

Disney Interactive Studios attempted to sell off half of Split/Second developer Black Rock late last year but couldn't find a buyer, according to an inside source.

The same source who flagged up planned redundancies at the Brighton-based studio earlier this week told us that a new management team at Disney put a portion of the studio on the market seven months ago.

"When the new management came in, they tried to sell half the studio and keep half, and they apparently had one buyer interested, but that fell through recently, leading to the situation we're in now."

A separate source at the studio - which also counts Pure and MotoGP on its résumé - has since confirmed the attempted sale to Eurogamer.

Around 100 jobs were thought to have been axed yesterday at Black Rock after development of a Split/Second sequel was canned and no replacement project settled upon.

40 staff apparently remain at the studio and are working on a "promising" but "risky" new title.

Split/Second launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last May clocking an impressive 8/10 at the hands of Eurogamer's Oli Welsh.