Developer Foundation 9 acquired Earthworm Jim PSP and The Matrix: Path of Neo developer studio Shiny from Atari. The thing is, the Earthworm Jim title stayed with Atari. So, when Gamasutra asked studio head Michael "Saxx" Persson what would happen to the planned Earthworm Jim for the PSP, what he could say is that "we're not working on it anymore," and he couldn't say what Atari's take on it would be. More exactly (to quote):

Saxx: We were working on that, and we're not working on it anymore. But it's really up to Atari to make an announcement about that, I probably can't even make that statement officially, but obviously we're not working on it. But they haven't made an announcement as to what they're going to do with it. We don't know...it's just one of those things.

Gamasutra: A friend of mine did get to see it, and he said it was pretty true to form.

Saxx: Yeah, I mean the squash and stretch worked really well, and the 3D character...we spent a fair amount of time on that. The backgrounds looked really cool, nice and colorful, the animations were tight, and...it was a good first playable, for sure. But that's how it goes. It's up to Atari, and I'm sure they can find a capable developer to do it.

Perhaps we'll hear something from Atari about this. Earthworm Jim's been progressing nicely, it seems, and it would be disappointing to see such a promising - plus nostalgic - title left unfinished because of a horses-in-midstream acquisition.

Beyond the worm's ultimate fate, Saxx says it's an exciting time for Shiny with this move to Foundation 9. It's different, he says, when the studio's part of a developer rather than a publisher. Now they can - or have to - run it from the perspective of running a business, and as a result, Sax foresees a "lean, mean" Shiny in the future.