On Friday the company’s corporate brokers at Citigroup told the chairman that investors wanted the management out. Sources close to the company said Phil Rogers, the finance director who joined in February 2007, is being lined up as temporary chief executive until a replacement is found.

Meanwhile, it emerged that SCi will be forced to borrow at least £30m to stay afloat until the end of the year.

One analyst said: “It seems likely the company will run out of cash by May or June. Since it is now delaying the release of its new games, it will need this extra cash just to keep the lights on.”

The company, which has said since September that it was in talks with a number of parties, admitted that it “no longer believes that a sale of the company for its full value is likely to be achieved”.

France’s Ubisoft and media giant Time Warner were said to be interested, but the shares fell 65% over the past five months as hopes of a genuine bid faded.

This weekend, sources close to the company told The Sunday Times that the board never actually received a single firm offer.