UK dev THQ Digital Warrington closes

The THQ UK development team earmarked for closure - THQ Digital Warrington - will now absolutely definitely be shut down.

Develop reports that 36 people will be made redundant immediately. A core team of 10 will remain to launch the studio's last project, Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team, which is due for release on Xbox Live Arcade today. The PSN release didn't happen in Europe or the US this week.

THQ Digital Warrington also created Red Faction offshoot Red Faction: Battlegrounds.

The studio was once called Juice Games and was responsible for decent street racing series Juiced. THQ acquired the studio and realigned its destiny in 2007 after the release of Juiced 2. THQ Digital Warrington, as it was to be known, was to focus on digital games.

But that all went sour after the lacklustre critical and commercial performance of Red Faction: Battlegrounds. The next project after Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team, which took only 10 months to make, may have been a downloadable version of Juiced. That's what a THQ Digital Warrington insider suggested to Eurogamer.

The source's gagging order regarding the downloadable Juiced game suggested that THQ still intends to use that project in some way and at some point.

From the ashes of THQ Digital Warrington will form three start-up companies - two of which will be game developers: D3T, a three man operation, and another studio the name of which is under wraps while the "t"s are crossed and the "I"s are dotted.