Iron Lore Entertainment, the uber-talented development studio behind Titan Quest, Dawn of War: Soulstorm, and their now-canceled unnamed game described as “Titan Quest meets God of War meets Oblivion” has closed their doors, citing “several unrelated events … which resulted in Iron Lore being unable to secure funding for its next project” as the reason for their sudden closure.

While working on Ding! The Sound of Progress!, I decided early on that Diablo 2 would be the only Diablo-clone included. The only thing keeping it from being a “real” MMORPG, after all, is a persistent world and a monthly fee, but if Guild Wars is considered an MMO despite not having either, then Diablo 2 is too, goshdarnit. But now I’ve gone ahead and included Titan Quest’s ding sound effect anyway, as a sort of pathetically inadequate memorial to an amazing developer whose life was cut tragically short.

Iron Lore was supposed to be one of the all time greats, held in the same regard as the Blizzards, Relics, and Valves of the world. Any developer that can produce a game as fantastic as Titan Quest on their first try was clearly destined for great things. At least we can sleep soundly knowing that each and every Iron Lore employee will find a home at a top tier developer and will continue their legacy of creating—Fuck it. It’s all over. Nothing but simultaneous console releases and monthly fees from here on in. Pack your bags; PC gaming is dead.