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Death Inc. dev Ambient Studios closes down

Issues refunds to those who paid for alpha access.

Ambient Studios, the Guildford-based developer of Death Inc. and Monster Meltdown, has shut down.

A note on the studio's website said it failed to make enough money to pay the bills.

"It's been an amazing ride and we've produced some amazing products like Monster Meltdown and Death Inc," reads the site. "We're super proud of what we achieved, but ultimately we didn't manage to make enough money to keep the wolves from the door. And so we had to make the difficult decision that it is no longer feasible for Ambient to continue operating.

"Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement along the way, we've got no regrets and have loved every minute of it."

Ambient, founded by former LittleBigPlanet, Fable and Burnout developers, suffered a setback earlier this year when the Kickstarter for PC RTS Death Inc. failed.

But it seemed the studio and the game was back on track after Ambient launched a paid alpha, giving those who forked out some cash access to an early version of the game.

And only last week it emerged that Death Inc. had been greenlit for release on Steam.

Ambient promised to issue full refunds to Death Inc. alpha backers. "Obviously we cannot deliver on the commitments we made in the various Death Inc. alpha tiers," it said.

"If you're one of the alpha backers, don't worry - we will be issuing full refunds so you will not be in any way out of pocket."

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