THQ has confirmed that it has closed five studios and will be laying staff off from another two. Visiting the websites of Helixe (WALL•E), Mass Media (Defender of the Crown), Locomotive Games (Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed), Paradigm Entertainment (Pilotwings 64), and Sandblast Games (Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon and Evil Dead: Regeneration for PS2) you are confronted with the virtual tombstones: 'Name Error: The domain name does not exist'.

The two studios set for staff reductions are Juice Games (Juiced) and Rainbow Studios (Deadly Creatures).

THQ recently bought rights to The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena from Activision/Blizzard, this will be developed by an unaffected studio, Starbreeze.

Speaking to Gamespot, an unnamed THQ spokesman said, "whether it's because of things happening to our industry or the economic environment as a whole. It's making sure that we're set up over the next three to five years to be profitable and successful".

No news is available as the exact number of lay-offs expected.