Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series and Lair developer Factor 5 has been unable to pay its employees for over a month due to the closure of publishing partner Brash Entertainment, according to a now-removed blog post from animator Sam Baker.

"If we left, there would have been no hope in F5 staying afloat," he wrote. "We had faith in the projects and the company, so there was no reason to bail just yet."

The crisis then caused the studio to stop production on one of its titles after cutting employee health care, with Baker told by president Julian Eggebrecht that employees should start looking for other jobs if the more funding wasn't found within a week.

Following a 1UP report on his post, Baker deleted the entire blog... Read more

The closure of Brash Entertainment has left the Saw video game without funding and a publisher, horror-centric site Bloody-Disgusting claims to have learned via sources.

The game, based on the Lionsgate horror film series and targeted for an October 2009 release, was apparently "nearing completion," with voice over work already in the can.

Zombie Studios is reportedly developing the project. Though revealed nearly 12 months ago, platforms for the Unreal Engine 3-powered game are not yet confirmed.

Brash's final release, the movie-inspired flick The Tale of Despereaux, was picked up by Atari when the company went under, Variety reports. However, the game was already in manufacturing, so the initial packaging will not display an Atari logo.

Other games left homeless include Prison Break, a new Superman game from Factor 5, Six Flags Fun Park, and a game inspired by the Spartan epic 300.

Founded last summer, Brash Entertainment focused on outsourcing video games based on licensed properties, with the licensed property bit described by co-founder Bert Ellis as "the safest, most lucrative way to sell a video game."

Brash Entertainment, the licensed game publisher which shut down last week, has been sued by two of its contracted studios for work that has gone unpaid.

According to a report by Variety, 7 Studios, based in Los Angeles, has filed suit against Brash claiming $468,000 in owed compensation for work on 9, a tie-in for an upcoming Tim Burton animated film, and an additional $113,000 for Six Flags Fun Park (Wii, DS), a mini-game collection featuring the amusement park giant's brand.

Zootfly, a Slovenian studio, has demanded $748,000 for a game tie-in for the Fox television show Prison Break.

Brash reportedly stopped paying its developers roughly two months ago after the publisher's funding dried up amidst the current credit crisis. Co-founders Thomas Tull and Nicholas Longano left the company a month ago, citing quality concerns with the company's products.

Its debut games, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Jumper, tanked both in ratings and at retail. When it was founded, co-founder Bert Ellis famously described licensed games as "the safest, most lucrative way to sell a video game."

Variety points out that Brash had "around a dozen projects" in the works at the time of its collapse, signaling that more lawsuits may be on the horizon.

Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht is holding his head high about his studio in the wake of the collapse of publisher Brash Entertainment.

"We are working on several projects, both multi-platform as well as single-platform titles for the Wii which you will hear a lot more about very soon," Eggebrecht told MTV Multiplayer.

As for the unannounced Superman game in the works at Factor 5, Eggebrecht all but confirmed the game's existence. "One of our large-scale multi-platform projects was started with Brash because it is a dream property for us, hasn't been given its dues in gaming since the Atari 2600, and has a huge universe to draw from," said the executive, referring to the 1979 Superman game for Atari's console.

Brash was started in March 2007 with the purpose of cranking out movie tie-in games, described by co-founder Burt Ellis as "the safest, most lucrative way to sell a video game." Much of the firm's start-up $400 million investment "dried up" in the current credit crisis.

Adding to the publisher's troubles, quality concerns inspired a spate of high-profile departures after games licensed on Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Fox movie Jumper both flopped at retail and garnered poor ratings.

"Things are obviously in flux and we hope that the game proves to be as indestructible as our hero," hinted Eggebrecht.

Variety is reporting that Brash Entertainment, a developer formed with the intent of singularly producing movie-licensed titles, is shutting down as of tomorrow.

The company was co-founded in March 2007 by Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, and was initially supported by an investment of $400 million. Co-founder Bert Ellis once described licensed games as "the safest, most lucrative way to sell a video game."

Brash debuted with a game that licensed the Alvin and the Chipmunks property. The company followed up with Jumper: Griffin's Story, based on the Fox film. Griffin's Story received an average Metacritic rating of 29% on the Xbox 360.

Following the troubled start, Tull departed the company last month, along with several other high-profile company executives--reportedly due to quality concerns.

Reports indicate that licensed game publisher Brash has essentially run out of cash, leaving many of its projects, such as an unannounced Superman game from Lair (PS3) and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series (N64, GCN) developer Factor 5, in limbo.

According to Variety, the publisher has laid off 20 employees and is seeking to raise funds by pairing with other companies, returning some of the licenses it holds, or selling them to another publisher. Only two of the company's many planned games are still confirmed for release: Six Flags Fun Park and Saw.

While the Superman game was unannounced, Brash previously confirmed a development partnership with Factor 5. Other games in danger are Prison Break, Night at the Museum 2, 300, Clash of the Titans and Tale of Desperaux. The report further claims that Brash has stopped paying developers for their work.

Upon its formation last year, Alvin and the Chipmunks publisher Brash announced that it has raised over $400 million in funding. But not all of that money was delivered upfront, with Variety reporting that most of the undelivered cash has "dried up" in the current credit crisis. The company has also suffered three high-profile depatures.

Licensed game publisher Brash Entertainment has been rocked by three high-profile departures in recent months, Variety reports.

Co-founders Thomas Tull and Nicholas Longano have left the company, as has chief creative officer Larry Shapiro, with Tull's departure reportedly stemming from displeasure with the quality of its offerings.

Brash made its marketplace debut last winter with Alvin and the Chipmunks on PC, PlayStation 2, Wii and Nintendo DS, followed by Jumper in early February. The company has a number of other licensed games in the works, including Six Flags, Prison Break, a project based on Zach Snyder's Spartan epic 300, and Saw.

Founded in March 2007, Brash Entertainment was co-created by Legendary Pictures CEO Tull to produce and publish games based on movies and licensed properties. At the time, co-founder Bert Ellis described licensed games and co-marketed movies as "the safest, most lucrative way to sell a video game."

Alvin and the Chipmunks publisher Brash Entertainment will be bringing the Fox television show Prison Break into the realm of interactive entertainment next February.

The project was revealed by an ad contained in recently released Season 3 DVD box set, reports GameSpot, with no platforms or other details listed.

Starring Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller (pictured left), Prison Break debuted in 2005 and tells the tale of a tattoo-covered structural engineer that intentionally gets himself imprisoned in a jail he designed in order to break out with his wrongly-convicted big brother. Along the way, he falls in love with the prison doctor.