Free Radical Closes its Doors? [Updated]
Free Radical Design, the Nottingham (UK) based company behind the Timesplitters, Star Wars: Battlefront and Haze franchises has closed its doors for good according to a report from GamesIndustry.biz. They claim that many senior executives had already left the company and that as of today the company has ceased to be.
What that means for the games in development is unknown, but it is believed that they were working on Star Wars: Battlefront 3 for Lucasarts and that in the fallout of this it has now been transferred to Rebellion, who made the PSP entry in the Battlefront series. It may also mean no more Haze… What a pity! The only other confirmed title that Free Radical were working on Timesplitters 4, which hopefully somebody will pick up, given the strength and following the series had.
Sadly in the current economic climate I think we will see more and more independent studios closing down as the purse strings tighten, you might even see the big corporations cutting loose the smaller failing studios in an attempt to cut costs. So any bets on who’s next?
UPDATE
ThisIsNottingham.co.uk have confirmed that Free Radical Design have not closed down, but instead have gone into administration. This means they can continue to operate despite being unable to pay their debts. Cameron Gunn, of Resolve Partners, the administrators that have been called in to deal with the firm, said-
“The company was placed in to administration yesterday afternoon.”
“We will be spending the next three or four days assessing the financial position of the company but it’s business as usual, although we have asked that almost all of the employees apart from a skeleton crew remain at home.”
“All employees have been paid up until the end of December and we hope to make another announcement before Christmas or very soon thereafter, but we must stress at this stage that it’s business as usual.”
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