Sector 14 Studios' Richard G. Brewer made a post to FirstOnes.com's forums with the news that despite over a year's worth of efforts from fans and the developers, Babylon 5: Into the Fire is no more (thanks Drazi Guy). The game was cancelled last year by Sierra Studios (story) however the developers had hoped to keep the project alive by finding a new publisher. According to Richard's post, however, it looks like they've lost the Babylon 5 license altogether. Here's an excerpt:

It is with deepest regret that I must inform you that our efforts to finish “Babylon 5: Into the Fire” have failed.

It is not due to problems with Sector 14 Studios, nor is it due to lack of interest by publishers, or lack of funding, but rather the current holder of the materials recently informed us they were no longer interested in selling the game assets. Appeals to the highest levels of management at Havas in France were not able to change their stance.

This outcome is unfortunate, for several reasons. Those of you close to the project know just how revolutionary the game design and gameplay would have been, and given the rather stagnant performance of space combat games, many to us knew in our heart of hearts that ItF had real potential to turn the market around, and get some of the life that the first person shooter market has been enjoying for the past 3 years. Technology-wise, we had many features in the design that are now becoming common-use tools such as multithreading and hierarchical AI—it was exciting to push the boundaries of technology in that way. For the fan of Babylon 5, it is another blow—the last remaining unseen footage of the cast and crew will remain unseen. This is a tragedy in itself.

What does this mean for Babylon 5 gaming? What’s next for Sector 14 Studios? Time will tell. More than a few of us have put our blood, sweat, and tears into this project. Personally, I’ve been working on this as a second job, logging in 10 plus hours a day for the past year on top of the demands of a full-time engineering career. Sector 14 Studios is a labor of love for us, and we won’t let it die. It is as much a way of thinking as it is a development studio—we’ve shared a special bond with our fans, and we hope that bond continues in the future when we are ready to start anew. We have ideas where we might go, but for now we need a rest—it’s a time of closure, as many of us have been putting 110% into ItF for over 3 years. In the meantime, we’d be happy to hear from any of you. Please feel free to send us your thoughts at sector14studios@yahoo.com or contact me directly.