Gameloft closes gaming sites

A couple of weeks ago we received word that GameLoft UK had been shut down, with the company reportedly seeing "no profit perspective in the exploitation of its Internet portal". Now comes news that the rest of GameLoft's websites around the world are to share its fate, and the closure seems to have effected hosted sites such as Famitsu as well - all pages now take you the company's corporate site at GameLoft.net. Details are still scarce, but an official announcement is expected on April 4th.

Geneviève Bastien, formerly PR Manager at GameLoft.com, told us that "I am grateful to have had the chance to work in the Internet gaming industry and I am confident that this industry still has a high potential". This despite the recent collapse of a whole string of gaming-related dot.coms, from Barrysworld and Freeloader to GameCenter and Gamers.com. As before, a spokesman for the company reported that "GameLoft has decided to discontinue [its websites] while reducing significantly its overhead", adding that "GameLoft will now on concentrate on exploiting its game catalogue on a pay per play basis, on the web and interactive TV where strong business opportunities have already been identified".