Free Radical Closure Confirmed as Embracer Shuts Studio Ahead of Christmas | Push Square
Embracer Group has made good on its promise, deciding the fate of UK-based TimeSplitters developer Free Radical Design after a consultation process that concluded on 11th December. Or at least we have to assume so, the embattled company hasn't made an announcement or anything; Free Radical's website is simply gone, with a message left behind that reads: «404 Company Not Found [sad smiley face]»
As reported by VGC, multiple developers have posted on LinkedIn, claiming that the 80 remaining staff left at the Nottingham studio have been let go. A senior artist wrote: “And it’s over. My final day at Free Radical Design. It sees myself and just over 80 people out of work at the worst time of year for it to happen.”
A QA designer put things more bleakly but accurately described the current state of game development writ large: “Free Radical Design was a hub of creativity, but sadly, we join an ever-growing list of casualties in a broken industry where entire studios are treated as replaceable cogs in a soulless machine fixated on nothing but share prices.”
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Fans have been anticipating a return to TimeSplitters ever since the IP was procured by Koch Media, now known as Plaion, which is itself a subsidiary of Embracer Group. It looks like those hopes have been dashed, and as ever, we wish all those effected by the company's restructuring the best and that they land on their feet.
Khayl Adam is the second best video game journalist Australia has ever produced, and his ambitions of world domination have (thus far) been curbed by the twin siren songs of strategy games and CRPGs. He has always felt an affinity for the noble dachshund, the best
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