Rumour: Phantom Dust developer Darkside shutting down?

It seems like there might be trouble brewing in paradise for the upcoming reboot of {Phantom Dust}. It was announced last E3 and was supposed to be officially released on Xbox One, with Darkside as developer. But now Kotaku reports that Darkside seems to have been shut down and 50 people have just lost their jobs.

The main reason for this it would seem is that Microsoft has ended their relationship with the studio. A spokesperson for the platform holder said: "Microsoft partnered with Darkside Game Studios in the development of Phantom Dust, but our working relationship has now ended. We have great respect for their studio and their work in the industry. While we do not have anything new to share on Phantom Dust at this time, we can confirm that development of the title continues. We look forward to sharing more details on the game as we get closer to release."

This will probably result in a massive delay for the game, and we're not entirely convinced it won't be axed in the end. Time will tell. This does of course also raise the question of whether the new studio will continue the work on the game as it currently exists, or whether they'll restart development from scratch.