Iron Lore (Titan Quest, Warhammer, Soulstorm) - Brian Sullivan (also co-founder of Ensemble - aka Age of Empires).
 
It's normal to see PC gaming companies come and go, unfortunately the trend is more doors closing than opening.
 

Were they bought out, or just closed?

I think it's just harder to get financing in general these days.
 
Iron Lore did not lose money as far as I know.

Doors closed suddenly due to financial issues.

Probably lack of investor $ for new development.
 
I assume people with cash would much rather invest in console game development.

Yeah, the returns are better on console games.  Is a bummer, seems that less funded games (and in most cases crap games) will live on the PC while big budget titles move to consoles.
 
The evolution of gaming I guess.
 

I wonder if the Xbox360's popularity will help cross platform DEVELOPMENT (ie similarity to PC architecture)?
This could be a blessing or a curse.
With Rising production costs/obsession with investment returns would the ability to deploy to two platforms concurrently with minimal additional development overhead not appeal to the most fiscally irascible penny counter?

 
Iron Lore closed due to financial struggles, but Michael Fitch from THQ has come out and attributed much of those struggles to game piracy. He has some pretty strong words about how illegal downloads put a huge dent in Iron Lore, and he make some interesting points about how it affected a smaller developer like Iron Lore. And honestly, I agree with him.
 
In case you haven't already seen this, or trolled through the "Disappointed with THG's attitude toward piracy thread":
http://www.quartertothree.com/game [...] hp?t=42663

I think that's a great cue for us all to go out this week and treat ourselves to a new game. I know what's next on my list........

 
Hmmmm. Do you mean "treat" as in buy, or "treat" as in download without payment?

Rob W.
 
I agree with you...it's a serious problem for everyone involved in the industry.  But little is being done about it from a prosecution perspective?  Look how hard a battle it is just trying to prevent audio theft.
 
And go visit just about any web site and you'll see a long list of folks happily admitting they pirate software, audio, and video.
 
I think the funniest arguement is "it cost too much I can't afford it so I steal it".  And then there's the "I like to try it before I buy it", yeah right.  Or the even funnier "I buy most of the stuff I like".
 
It sucks even more because now the industry has to assume everyone is a theif and make increasinly more consumer unfriendly anti-pirate schemes which in turn adds cost to the product.
 
But you realize Rob W., these folks represent about 75% of your members -- some more open about their theft than others.
 
Funny how these "poor" souls can afford a $1000-$2000 PC but can't pay $40-$50 for a game or $20 for a DVD or $14 for a CD.  Let me get the violins out for these so unfortunate people that "can't afford it".
 
Jay,
 
IMHO, NO.  I would like to believe cross platform development will bring back some titles, but that just isn't going to happen for several reasons:
 
1.  PC still requires too much tech knowledge
2.  Viable gaming PC costs more
3.  PC Sales numbers don't justify the port
 

The clue is in my statement  
 
'go out'
 

pirates, deserve to be tarred and feathered and then hung drawn quartered with some water boarding thrown in somewhere along the line.
 
  always amazes me how people justify being criminal scum.  It would be a real shame if piracy was the cause of such loss of sales and the eventual downfall of a company and the people it employed.
 
p.s throw in a violent gang raping as well.

 
Ever gone 1mph over the speedlimit?

 
I hope you're wrong.
 
*wanders around mumbling*
 
BUT!
 
...BUT!  SURELY!
 
1. how much more tech knowledge than grasping the subtleties of the console architecture. You don't really need to code for every PC architecture, the API's make a lot of this transparent to the developer.
2. Is this a consideration for the developer? I would say no.
3. You may be ON TO SOMETHING here, yet AGAIN, I hope you are wrong. The numbers may be lower but IT WOULD APPEAR to me that after writing code for the DIRECT-X box, very minor additional WORK expenditure would reap exponential rewards. (same API's we would hope)

 
don't drive and have never done to my knowledge more than the speed limit on my bike, so no.
 
 Also that is a bad example as not all speedometers can let you distinguish 1mph opr indeed they may not be accurate to 1mph.
 
 

if you drive past my house fast i'll forgive you.
if i catch you stealing from my house i'll shoot you!
ok i don't have a gun but you get the idea
 
if you justify stealing because someone else is speeding your an idiot
 
 
people are out looking for work to feed there families but people speed so that justifies me stealing?
 
again IDIOT!
 

Sure I've gone over the speed limit, daily -- but last I checked that didn't cripple any industry nor force anyone to close shop?
 
Trust me when I say I've heard every human justification for stealing audio, video, and software.
 
Now if your analogy was relevant, like "Do you pay for all your software, video, audio?"  Then my answer would be absolutely!!  Every item, I don't steal, I'm not a thief.
 
It amazes me all the folks that admit to stealing, don't want to be called a thief.  But I guess some people don't want to believe they steal so they figure if they just keep coming up with lame justifications, then eventually they'll actually start to believe they're not a thief.
 
But for all those that do steal software, audio, video -- next time you get a job (I know that's a stretch), I'm sure you will be fine with NOT getting paid for the work you do.

 
 
Man this sux, these guys have made some kick @$$ games. I was really hoping that Titan Quest would continue on.      
 

I even paid for the latest Radiohead album!