Free Radical Design closes doors

[NINE-BREAKER]

Independent UK studio Free Radical Design closed its doors this morning, GamesIndustry.biz understands, with multiple sources claiming that staff, including senior executives, have already left the company.

It is also believed that the unnamed project for LucasArts - announced back in 2006 and thought to be Star Wars Battlefront III - has been shipped off to Rebellion, the developer behind PSP hit Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron.

One source claims staff turned up to work today to find doors locked, and instructions to meet at a nearby hotel for a final company meeting.

Last month, when contacted by GamesIndustry.biz, director Steve Ellis denied there were any changes at the company.

"Nothing unusual is happening here. Projects end. New projects start. That's how things have worked for nearly 10 years," he said then.

TimeSplitters 4 and the unnamed project were both still in development said Ellis, as were "other unannounced projects, which are in the process of being signed."

And days later, when more industry chatter questioned the future of the Nottingham studio, Ellis said that "we certainly won't be laying off any staff today. Or, for that matter, any time in 2008."

"If something happens in 2009 I'm sure we'll be prepared to comment - but from where I'm sitting, whatever happens is far more likely to be positive than negative," he added.

Calls to senior staff at Free Radical Design by GamesIndustry.biz yesterday and today have not been returned.

gameindustry.biz

[DeadMeatGF]

Originally Posted by NINE-BREAKER

Calls to senior staff at Free Radical Design by GamesIndustry.biz yesterday and today have not been returned.

Like - duh! They're in the hotel having a meeting ...

[NINE-BREAKER]

There was a lot of confusion yesterday surrounding the suggested closure of UK development studio Free Radical Design, a studio famously home to members of the original Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark Nintendo64 teams. Today, a UK trade association for developers have spoken-out about the situation, confirming early reports.

Tiga has expressed its condolences to all the people at Free Radical Design, the Nottingham based independent studio, which reportedly closed its doors yesterday.

Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga, said: “On behalf of all Tiga members, I would like to say how sorry the whole industry is to hear of the fate of Free Radical Design. The studio has employed some very talented teams developing first class games over the years. Free Radical Design has also been a member of Tiga and a strong supporter of our trade association. I would like to congratulate everyone at the studio for their past achievements and I wish everyone good fortune in finding a new job as quickly as possible. Free Radical Design’s demise highlights the difficult economic environment in which UK games developers do business.

“Last night, Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), advocated a form of ‘market-based industrial activism’. This approach, he said, means that ‘Policy should be activist in the sense that it recognises that government can and must complement market dynamics to get the best outcomes for our society and economy.’

“The best outcome for the UK videogames industry is an increase in the sector’s rate of growth and the return of the UK as the third largest developer of videogames in the world. If we are to achieve these results then the Government must establish a more favourable tax environment and tackle the underlying skills shortages facing the industry. A tax break for games production and a larger supply of skilled workers may not have saved Free Radical Design. Nonetheless, this policy approach would strengthen the UK videogames sector. The Secretary of State for BERR must take action.”

Tiga is the national trade association that represents videogames developers in the UK and in Europe, with 160 members, the majority of whom are either independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers.

Electronic Theatre would also like to offer our commiserations to Free Radical Design, and hope that the team manage to find suitable new positions without any extended difficulties.


www.electronictheatre.co.uk

[NINE-BREAKER]

There was a lot of confusion yesterday surrounding the suggested closure of UK development studio Free Radical Design, a studio famously home to members of the original Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark Nintendo64 teams. Today, a UK trade association for developers have spoken-out about the situation, confirming early reports.

Tiga has expressed its condolences to all the people at Free Radical Design, the Nottingham based independent studio, which reportedly closed its doors yesterday.

Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga, said: “On behalf of all Tiga members, I would like to say how sorry the whole industry is to hear of the fate of Free Radical Design. The studio has employed some very talented teams developing first class games over the years. Free Radical Design has also been a member of Tiga and a strong supporter of our trade association. I would like to congratulate everyone at the studio for their past achievements and I wish everyone good fortune in finding a new job as quickly as possible. Free Radical Design’s demise highlights the difficult economic environment in which UK games developers do business.

“Last night, Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), advocated a form of ‘market-based industrial activism’. This approach, he said, means that ‘Policy should be activist in the sense that it recognises that government can and must complement market dynamics to get the best outcomes for our society and economy.’

“The best outcome for the UK videogames industry is an increase in the sector’s rate of growth and the return of the UK as the third largest developer of videogames in the world. If we are to achieve these results then the Government must establish a more favourable tax environment and tackle the underlying skills shortages facing the industry. A tax break for games production and a larger supply of skilled workers may not have saved Free Radical Design. Nonetheless, this policy approach would strengthen the UK videogames sector. The Secretary of State for BERR must take action.”

Tiga is the national trade association that represents videogames developers in the UK and in Europe, with 160 members, the majority of whom are either independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers.

Electronic Theatre would also like to offer our commiserations to Free Radical Design, and hope that the team manage to find suitable new positions without any extended difficulties.

www.electronictheatre.co.uk

[Crusha_aa]

No...no....NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But i want Timesplitters 4.

[Berjj]

Originally Posted by Crusha_aa

No...no....NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But i want Timesplitters 4.

My current thoughts.

[SuperApe]

From 1upNews:

Company admin feels "confident" that the developer can be sold at market.

In the wake of yesterday's report that Free Radical has been shut down, Edge Online reports that the company is seeing "significant interest" in being bought. ReSolve, which has been put in charge of Free Radical, addressed some of the issues surrounding the developer's financial woes. "We are very confident that we will achieve a sale if we decide to market the business," said Cameron Gunn from ReSolve. "It's a testament to the employees and the regard of the company that a significant interest has already been shown."

There were early reports of over 100 people leaving the company upon hearing the news. In response, Gunn said they are "not aware of any formal resignations over the last 24 hours, but we can't stop people resigning from Free Radical." He also says that the company is currently assessing its current position and looking through records. This is very likely the first step to negotiating a sale with any interested parties, but Gunn wasn't specific about who has shown an interest in buying out the developer.

We've been seeing earlier predictions come true in the last few weeks and months. Smaller developers and publishers are sinking, and if Free Radical sells, it probably won't be the last to be bought up by a larger company. For games, the end result of the financial crisis could be the large publishers getting even larger through acquisitions sold cheaper than they could be in a healthier market.

Link

Somebody heard you guys.

[NINE-BREAKER]

I'm not quoting the terrible writers of Kotaku so just check the link for the images. I put a few here.

kotaku.com

=====

Free Radical Employee Speaks Out About Closure

Yesterday, the Internet was abuzz with rumours about Free Radical Design closing its doors, with various sources reporting that the staff were locked out of Free Radical’s offices.

First came the rumors that Free Radical was no more, and then Spong ran a rather terse quote from Haze writer Rob Yescombe denying that Free Radical was dead. None of the senior staff were talking to anyone, and the Internet was left to speculate without many hard facts.

Smashpad talked to a source at Free Radical, who would only speak to us under the condition of anonymity. He said:

“We turned up for work as normal, but the offices were all locked. We were told to go down the road to a hotel, where Steve [Ellis] told us to go home.”

Today, Spong is reporting that Free Radical is in administration, but isn’t actually dead yet, and is in fact “in better shape than it’s been for some time.”

When asked about that, our source said:

“I don’t know about that, but I do know there’ve been problems since Haze was released. Lucasarts weren’t too happy with progress [FRD were working on an unannounced game believed to be Star Wars Battlefront III], and a bunch of people were made redundant. Then we were asked for game ideas that were quick and cheap to make, and there was talk of re-doing some of our old games for Xbox Live or PSN. Coming after Haze’s failure and with Lucasarts being unhappy, there was definitely a feeling that things weren’t going well. Then 90% of our QA were laid off suddenly, as well as some other people. We kept getting reassurances that everything was fine, but we didn’t believe it.”

The reassurances that Free Radical’s staff were given mirror Steve Ellis’s assertions last month that nothing was amiss at Free Radical, claiming that the company wasn’t going to make anyone redundant any time soon, and that any developments were likely to be positive.

Our source continued:

“After that, a bunch of key people left, and the outlook definitely wasn’t looking good. As far as I’m aware, no-one’s been made redundant yet, but I’m certainly looking for another job, and I’m pretty sure everyone else is, too.”

The other major rumors coming out of yesterday’s story are that Steve Ellis has set up a new development studio, called Pumpkin Beach, and has taken around 20 ex-Free Radical staffers with him; and that Lucasarts took the unannounced game away from Free Radical several months ago, and gave it to Rebellion.

We asked our source about these rumors, and were told:

“Pumpkin Beach was set up a few months ago actually. The project was worked on in-house at FRD for a while. Then we were told that because the project was going to be quite different from Free Radical’s previous games, they were setting up a new company, sort of a new label for the game, to avoid the associations with TimeSplitters and Haze. As for the Lucasarts thing, I’m not sure that’s entirely true. I know I was working on the Lucasarts game until very recently.”

Unfortunately, our source refused to be drawn any further on whether Lucasarts has given the game to Rebellion, and if so, when. So, currently, the situation is that although Free Radical isn’t officially closed, most of the staff aren’t working, and with the company in administration, things certainly don’t seem to be very hopeful.

blog.gamer20.com

[Uncle_Bob]

The company being bought might be the best thing that could happen in the situation I just hope it doesn't adversly effect their creative output. Lets hope Io Interactive and RWS are ok but they aren't British so hopefully they are ok.