SOE: 'The Agency still in development'

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has debunked rumours that its action MMO The Agency will be cancelled.

Speaking to Joystiq, SOE president John Smedley denied that the game is in jeopardy, claiming that the firm has opted to keep it under wraps until it is ready to be unveiled.

"We're not going to release it until it's right, but there's this rumour going around that we're going to cancel it - that's ridiculous," he told the website.

Smedley also asserted that staff layoffs in July had not hindered the title's progress. "We're going full-bore towards it. We're simply keeping it under wraps more because we want to make it the best possible game we can," he added. "I'm a FPS [first-person shooter] player first and foremost, so we're going to get that game right, period."

The Agency is a spy-themed action/MMO hybrid in which rival espionage agencies compete with one another online across mission-based scenarios. It will arrive on PlayStation 3 and PC next year.