Ion Storm closes its doors on GameSpot offers an official confirmation of reports that have been coming in saying the Eidos-owned developer was being shuttered. Here's a bit, including the official announcement of the closure of Ion's Austin-based offices, the last vestige of a studio launched by John Romero in August 1996 under the tentative name Dream Design:

A statement issued by the Britain-based publisher outlined the closure with typically cool corporate logic. "Eidos today announced locally that it is to consolidate down its North American internal development capabilities from two studios to one," read the statement. "This will mean the immediate closure of the Ion Storm studio in Austin, Texas, which has been focused primarily on the development of PC and Xbox games. ... This is part of [Eidos'] move to consolidate and strengthen its technical and management capabilities into a smaller number of studios which are capable of scaling up in order to meet the competitive challenges that lie ahead, particularly in anticipation of next-generation technologies and platforms."