War in Russia Sees SSI Sale Fallout

Matrix Games, which has had continuing licensing issues with two titles based on SSI's Steel Panthers series, today announced that both War in Russia and Pacific War have been cancelled. Matrix explained that Mattel's sale of the Learning Company (parent of SSI) has made it impossible to secure a licensing agreement for CD-ROM distribution and that the 350 - 500MB size of the games makes online distribution unfeasible. Patches for the DOS versions of War in Russia and Pacific War are being considered as a means of making a few of the new features and bug fixes available to the public.

"It is with a heavy heart that we cannot complete these games the way we planned," said Daniel Heath of Matrix Games' Media Relations. "But it seems pointless to put all this effort into these games if no one will ever be able to play them."

Despite this setback, wargame fans can rest assured that the May 8 online release of Steel Panthers World At War will continue as planned.