Officials from UK developer Climax have shed light on the surprise cancellation of their Warhammer Online project yesterday. The joint venture between Climax and Games Workshop, to have been published by Sega, was cancelled after a review of the costs to complete and launch the game showed that the cost of rolling out the game was far higher than either partner had anticipated and could not be justified.

Climax CEO Kar Jeffery has suggested a sum of around $30 million to launch a new massively multiplayer online (MMO) game in today’s market, with the upfront investment in servers and support teams proving too much for Climax and Games Workshop.

The decision will apparently not impact Climax's Nottingham studio, which is already working on a second title and will continue to advance the technology created for Warhammer Online. The company is now exploring the possibility of bringing in another partner to assist with the roll out of the new project, ideally one with existing MMO experience and infrastructure, to reduce costs and risk.