Auran Has Heartbeat, Breathing is Shallow

An article over at the Courier Mail (no, not that one) has an update on the current state of Brisbane-based studio Auran. Both Tantalus CEO Tom Crago and Auran co-founder Graham Edelsten share words with the newspaper.

It was only a few months ago that Auran Developments, which managed the company, went into administration, resulting in a downsizing of Auran’s healthy 85 employees to a skeletal 15.

According to the article, Auran hasn’t thrown it’s multi-million dollar MMO Fury to the sharks just yet (as evidenced by the release of the Age of the Chosen expansion late last year), and is looking to sell the underlying tech it used to create the game.

Graham Edelsten also had this to say about the Oz industry:

Mr Edelsten says Auran will stick to less ambitious projects, saying until the investment dollars match those of their overseas counterparts it is too risky to take on the giants.

The comment sings very true. Until Australian developers receive more financial support from the government, it’s going to be hard to convince investors to spend big bucks locally.

Game still on for Auran [Courier Mail, via Sumea]