A global video gaming company that funded a high-profile hunt for dozens of World War II-era British fighters in Myanmar has some bad news for aviation enthusiasts: It says none of the legendary planes are buried in the Southeast Asian country.

Excavation teams carrying out surveys on the ground, however, said Saturday that they would not give up the search.

The hunt for the lost planes was launched amid hope that as many as 140 rare Spitfires were hidden in crates in pristine condition in three locations in Myanmar.

But the Belarusian video gaming company Wargaming.net, which had backed the venture, said in a statement late Friday that the planes were never even delivered to the country by Allied forces as the war drew to a close nearly 70 years ago.

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"TheWargaming team now believes, based on clear documentary evidence, as well as the evidence from the fieldwork, that no Spitfires were delivered in crates and buried" in Myanmar between 1945 and 1946, the statement said.

Archival records indicated that the British unit handling shipments at the time received only 37 aircraft, but "none of the crates contained Spitfires and most appear to have been re-exported," said the company, which is best known for its multiplayer titles including "World of Warplanes" and "World of Tanks."

Moreover, "appalling weather" and shortages of heavy equipment and manpower would have made it "almost impossible" to bury the massive crates, the company said.

On Saturday, however, the search venture's local partners said they would not give up and were still conducting surveys near the international airport