Acclaim smacks Probe and two projects

Dozens of people have been laid off from Probe by Acclaim this morning according to Computer and Video Games. In what Acclaim call, in typical 90's business speak, a "consolidation of development resources", Acclaim announced Extreme G developer Probe has been closed down, which kills the company along with two unannounced games.

Acclaim PR manager Simon Smithwright said, "We're bringing the 35-strong team of Ferrari Grand Prix closer to brand direction and marketing teams by relocating it to our Knightsbridge office as this is such an important franchise for us, We are focusing on the core project to come out of that studio".

Acclaim is being evasive on this issue, today they played down the obvious assumption that the move is due to failing financial fortunes at the company. "That's not the case," Smithwright added. "It's a consolidation of development resources. We have space here [at Acclaim's Knightsbridge office]. Everyone's managing the transition between hardware in different ways. This is the right thing to do."

I am sure this is not the end of this story, so stay tuned over the next few days for the full story.