Foundation 9 have confirmed today that they are shaking up their operations in the face of tough trading conditions, and will be forced to cut-staff as well as close Fizz Factor.

Their Amaze and Griptonite outfits will also merge as the company looks to remain profitable.

Assassin's Creed II and Where the Wild Things Are are presently being worked on by the firm, with Double Helix Games also likely to suffer cuts, according to VentureBeat.

"It's important to F9 to remain a strong and profitable studio, so that we can continue to provide the best possible services to our publishing partners and employees. From time to time we make decisions to grow or shrink capacity in relation to market conditions, and we do not make public comments on these decisions," explained the firm.

"We can confirm that we recently merged the operations of our two Kirkland studios, Amaze and Griptonite. Having separate 'console' and 'handheld' studios under the same roof simply didn't make sense in light of the convergence in capabilities of modern game hardware."

More soon.

By Luke Guttridge