A post on the Iron Lore Entertainment website announces that the Titan Quest developer is shutting down, having been unable to secure financing for its next project.

"We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who has helped us in the last seven years--our team who moved mountains to create such great games, our publisher THQ who has been a great partner through three product development cycles, and most of all our customers and fans," reads the statement.

"We owe all of the success we've had to you, and our greatest satisfaction has come from creating games that have given enjoyment to the community."

Publishers or developers interested in hiring Iron Lore talent are asked to contact pchieffo@ironlore.com; the same email address can also be used for inquiries on technology licensing.

In addition to Titan Quest and the Immortal Throne expansion pack, Iron Lore recently developed the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War expansion pack Soulstorm.

Titan Quest developer Iron Lore is breaking into console territory soon, and with that shift came two recent appointments: Jeff Goodsill to president, and former EA Mythic employee Steve Marvin to design director. Read my interviews with the two, and glean tidbits on such informative industry topics as the size of Iron Lore's gaming room, what a grognard is, and how far they are in BioShock.

At the time, PC Action-RPG franchises restricted their audiences by topic or by difficulty. We believed the casual and mass-market buyers were under-served. Diablo limited its audience with its mature rating and high level of gore. Some parents would not buy a game with a flaming skull on the box cover for their kids.

THQ today officially announced Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, the first expansion pack for Iron Lore's action RPG. Due out early 2007, Immortal Throne will feature the following

Developed by Iron Lore Entertainment, Titan Quest: Immortal Throne features a rich, original storyline with more than 12 hours of single-player content per difficulty level. New gameplay features include an all-new skill mastery that combines with existing masteries to form eight new playable character classes. Immortal Throne also adds dozens of terrifying new monsters, hundreds of unique weapons and an additional 10 levels of character and skill development.

Some screenshots can be found here.

HomeLAN Fed has posted a Q&A with Iron Lore founder Brian Sullivan, asking the Age of Empires co-creator about his new company and their recently announced publishing deal with THQ. Iron Lore's first project is an action RPG.

THQ issued this press release, announcing a publishing agreement with Iron Lore Entertainment. This new company is headed by Brian Sullivan, co-creator of the Age of Empires series. Iron Lore's first game will be an action RPG scheduled for a late 2005 release, with more details on the game coming later this year. There's also a GameSpot story with quotes from Sullivan about his plans. Thanks Blues News.