During the summer, publisher Electronic Arts revealed that the Command & Conquer based first-person shooter Tiberium had been pushed back into the 2010 fiscal year, meaning sometime after March 31, 2009. Now, however, it would appear that EA has outright axed the project altogether.

Kotaku obtained an internal memo sent to staff at EA Los Angeles by EA LA boss Mike Verdu that announced the end of all work on Tiberium. Furthermore, several people on the project are being let go, although EA will try to place them on other projects or elsewhere within the company.

The reason? Apparently, the game had "fundamental design challenges" and EA was concerned about the game meeting standards of quality. Mariam Sughayer, EA spokesperson, added: "The game was not on track to meet the high quality standards set by the team and by the EA Games Label. A lower quality game is not in the best interest of the consumers and would not succeed in this market."

The full memo is provided below:

It is with a heavy heart that I announce an end to all work on Tiberium effective immediately. I've consulted with Nick Earl and Frank Gibeau at the EA Games Label and together we have reached the conclusion that given the time and resources remaining, we will not be able to deliver this product to an appropriate level of quality.

The game had fundamental design challenges from the start. We fought to correct the issues, but we were not successful; the game just isn't coming together well enough to meet our own quality expectations as well as those of our consumers.

Unfortunately, this action will result in several individuals on the team being released. We will make every effort to place affected individuals on projects within the studio – and where that isn't possible, to connect them with opportunities in other teams at EA.

This is the right move for the studio and the company, but it's particularly hard for me because of the impact it will have on our people. Many individuals contributed their time and talents to this game. I spent time in the trenches with them and I was continually impressed by their work.

Moving forward, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again. I believe we are already doing a better job of engineering success in from the start. The quality bar has been raised. Now we need to step up our focus on great design and execution, catching any problems early and correcting them quickly.

We will strive to live up to our values: To make great games, treat people right, keep our commitments, and grow our business.

Mike Verdu