Source: Gaming blog Kotaku.

　　What we heard: June began with a massacre of PlayStation 3 exclusives coming out of Sony's European operations. Earlier this month, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe broke the news that it had suspended development on SCEE London Studio's modern-day action adventure The Getaway and high-octane crime drama Eight Days. According to SCEE, The Getaway and Eight Days were shuttered so that the company could "redistribute resources and budget" toward other first-party projects.

　　However, it now appears that The Getaway and Eight Days weren't the only titles party to Sony's culling of first-party endeavors. According to gaming blog Kotaku, the follow-up to Ninja Theory's 2007 PS3 exclusive Heavenly Sword has also been placed in stasis. As for the why, Kotaku's sources tells them that the game was "no longer seen as commercially viable," echoing sentiments expressed over the cancellation of SCEE London Studios' projects.

　　Though work on the game was being handled internally by Sony Cambridge, Kotaku also reports that relations between Ninja Theory and Sony have nonetheless become strained. As such, the developer reportedly plans to move out of the digs it shares with Sony Cambridge to set up shop elsewhere.

　　Despite debuting to much fanfare and considerable hype from Sony in September 2007, Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword proved not to be the system-selling title the publisher had hoped for. Though it met a welcome reception from critics, Heavenly Sword sold just 139,000 units in the US during September (according to the NPD Group) and did nothing to jump start PS3 sales, which stood at 119,000 units on the month. The game quickly dropped out of the top 10 by November and through May totalled just over 345,000 copies in the US--decent, but not amazing numbers.

　　The official story: Unsurprisingly, Sony Europe was less than receptive to inquiries. "I think it is fair to say that we do not comment on rumour and speculation, especially about games that have never been announced," a SCEE representative told Kotaku. "We are still dedicated to our first-party studios and are very excited about the fantastic exclusive titles coming this year."

　　Bogus or not bogus?: Heavenly Sword offered a compelling God-of-War-with-a-red-hot-heroine premise, but it wasn't enough to translate to sales. Also throw in the fact that a Ninja Theory employee said that a second game is "highly unlikely" on the developer's official forums and this looks not bogus.