It's not clear whether the mysterious project has been canned completely, or if it will be picked up elsewhere. The company is certainly running out of UK options, in any case. PlayStation's Evolution Studios shut down in 2016, and the Cambridge-based Guerrilla followed suit in 2017.

The decision may well have been made in response to Sony's recent earnings announcement, which revealed that unexpectedly-low PlayStation and third-party games sales had decreased the company's entire earnings forecast. Again, though, PlayStation is going through a period of transition as it moves into the next generation of its console. This studio closure may well be part of a longer-term plan.