Import game publisher Working Designs is closed for business, said company head Victor Ireland in a [a] http://www.workingdesigns.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118916 [aa]message board post[/a] yesterday.

“Working Designs is gone. All the staff has been laid off and the office is closed and has been for some time,” Ireland stated on his web site. The company, which was founded in 1986, had nearly completed the translation of Konami’s latest [i]Goemon (Mystical Ninja)[/i] game for the PlayStation 2 when the announcement was made. Ireland hints that problems with getting Sony’s approval for the game was the “final straw” that led to the company’s closure.

“If I can’t guarantee that the games I personally choose for us to release in the US can actually get approved and come out, there’s no business to be done,” Ireland said.

Some of WD’s notable works include [i]Arc the Lad[/i] and the [i]Lunar[/i] series, but this may not be the end. Ireland mentions that he won’t be giving up on localizing games and that he has already been in contact with other publishers who want to work with him and other former WD employees. Specifically, he mentions the Xbox 360 as a promising supply for RPGs to work on. We look forward to his future works.