Comments on: Doak left Free Rad earlier this month, company closed

By: fearmonkey

fearmonkey — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:22:18 +0000

Somehow that Haze picture is more fitting now

By: patlike

patlike — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:21:13 +0000

Cheers. I’ll change that.

By: ManicMarvin

ManicMarvin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:19:17 +0000

The Edge editor hasn’t been paying attention; the Rebellion Derby studio *is* what’s left of Core Design, as of 2.5 years ago:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/rebellion-acquires-core-design-staff-and-assets

However, Gusto Games also have a new studio in Derby.

Commiserations to the FRD guys, good luck finding new work.

By: fearmonkey

fearmonkey — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:14:39 +0000

This is a real shame, but doesn’t surprise me.
To be honest, I enjoyed the Time Splitters series but it
was an average shooter. What made it great was all the
option for gameplay it had.
Haze was meh and only on PS3, which was a big mistake.
They and Factor 5 have a similar situation.

By: morriss

morriss — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:14:16 +0000

He’s such a tease , or is that ?

By: patlike

patlike — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:12:35 +0000

And , obviously.

By: patlike

patlike — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:12:10 +0000

By: Shatner

Shatner — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:10:35 +0000

Are you sure about that? And I’m not sure I see the relationship.

But then, a lot of people do add up 2 and 2 to get 5 and decide that’s the only possible answer.

By: ElfShotTheFood

ElfShotTheFood — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:49:38 +0000

The only good to come out of this is that this site has been blissfully Shatner-free for the past couple of days.

By: wickedman

wickedman — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:41:00 +0000

this is really sad :’(

By: patlike

patlike — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:40:39 +0000

Ta.

By: Hunam

Hunam — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:39:46 +0000

Just saw this on Shacknews:

Update: Free Radical has not closed, but has instead gone into administration, which will allow the company to continue operating despite an inability to pay its debts.

“It’s business as usual, although we have asked that almost all of the employees apart from a skeleton crew remain at home,” Cameron Gunn, an employee of administration firm Resolve Partners, told local newspaper This Is Nottinham.

All Free Radical employees have been paid through the end of December. The studio hopes to make an announcement regarding its fate later this month, following an analysis of its “financial position” by Resolve Partners.

Along with TimeSplitters 4, rumors suggest Free Radical was working on Star Wars: Battlefront III for LucasArts, with some claiming that the title has since been moved to Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron developer Rebellion.

By: patlike

patlike — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:37:59 +0000

I’ve added a caveat to this piece. The source does say both Haze and the falling-through of the Lucas deal spelled doom. I’ve made an edit.

By: Retroid

Retroid — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:33:02 +0000

By: GordonR

GordonR — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:31:12 +0000

And yet Spong are quoting Rob Yescombe today saying the company’s not gone down.

Although bear in mind, it’s
a) Spong, and
b) Yescombe

By: LeD

LeD — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:29:25 +0000

So nekotcha single-handedly sunked the company he worked for.

/slow claps
/is going to Hell

By: morriss

morriss — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:24:25 +0000