Rumour: Sleeping Dogs developer United Front Games has closed its doors

A particularly credible rumour has surfaced, claiming that Canadian studio United Front Games, best known for Sleeping Dogs, its online spin-off Triad Wars and recently released MOBA Smash + Grab has closed.

There’s no official word from United Front Game, but looking at Smash + Grab’s Steam page reveals the game is no longer for sale, after only releasing this month on Steam. The game was available for free last weekend, which suggests that if there was a closure, it was relatively unexpected, and could be related to the implosion of Triad Wars, or to poor sales of Smash + Grab, which according to Steam Spy has sold 50,000 copies to date.

This comes with the caveat I always roll out when I link to Steam Spy, is that it may not be accurate and, well, 50,000 might well be a rip-roaring success for the studio. We won’t know more until an official statement is made.

The rumour started on NeoGaf, although was given some weight when Jen Timm, a producer at United Front games, tweeted "Currently mourning the best job I’ve ever had, and the most wonderful team I’ve ever worked with. The end of a great era. Goodbye, UFG."

I’ll keep an eye on the story throughout the day, and if a statement is made, I’ll link to it here.