Free Radical closure

Discussion in 'General Gaming' started by _SD_, Dec 18, 2008.

  1. _SD_

    _SD_ Resolute Member

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    Free Radical Design is no more. It would appear that the company has been in trouble for a while, and finally closed today.

    My thoughts go out to those that have lost their jobs this close to Xmas. And while we're at it, all the soon to be unemployed Woolworths staff too.

    Develop article
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2008
  2. ASSEMbler

    ASSEMbler Administrator Staff Member

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    I can't think of any games they made...
     
  3. PhreQuencYViii

    PhreQuencYViii Champion of the Forum

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    Timesplitters, and the recent Haze which I heard sucked. Timesplitters was good though.

    A fuckin shame!
     
  4. subbie

    subbie Guardian of the Forum

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    =( i read about this on neogaf today. It's a very sad thing to see.

    Buy ubi games so i don't loose my job too!!!!!!
    =P
     
  5. retro

    retro Resigned from mod duty 15 March 2018

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    They also made Second Sight. Other than two Timesplitters sequels, that's all they did.

    The company was started by several ex Rare developers after working on GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. Among them, one Dr. David Doak, whose name should be familiar to GoldenEye buffs! ;-)

    It is sad to see yet another British indie developer close its doors.

    Incidentally, their website has no mention of the closure, and is still advertising vacancies!

    http://www.frd.co.uk/recruitment.php

    Anyone in Nottingham fancy popping by and seeing if they're still open?
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2008
  6. Pulsar_t

    Pulsar_t Spirited Member

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    It seems the industy will be consolidated into a few mainstream publishers and tons of smaller/indie ones. No room in this business for any risky ventures any more.
     
  7. arcadeaction

    arcadeaction Member

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    Didn't they do the quite enjoyable Second Sight game?

    :noooo:

    Bad news!
    I'm sorry for all the people that lost their jobs and truly hope they all will find another empoyer soon.
     
  8. subbie

    subbie Guardian of the Forum

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    Sadly that actualy happens alot. I can probably find a few instances of developers websites still being active even though the company is long gone.

    In addition, the studio just closed down this morning.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2008
  9. Alchy

    Alchy Illustrious Member

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    Timesplitters 2 was great, many happy hours on that, and plenty of fun multiplayer too. Shame to see them go, but Haze was pretty mediocre from what I saw. Hope all involved land on their feet elsewhere.
     
  10. ASSEMbler

    ASSEMbler Administrator Staff Member

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    Quick go get a brick and free all those poor TEST ps3's!!!

    Sadly Sony is already on the way to pick it all up I imagine.
     
  11. Sojiroh

    Sojiroh Dauntless Member

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  12. kholdfuzion

    kholdfuzion I kill consoles

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    Maybe in their assests they will have some fun Goldeneye remnents laying around. I would DEFINATLY be interested in purchasing/chipping in on that to provide to Subdrag and the Rarewitchproject team. I doubt they kept much on company assests tho as it belonged to rare. One can hope tho :)

    edit just noticed what Sojiroh said
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2008
  13. Alchy

    Alchy Illustrious Member

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  14. retro

    retro Resigned from mod duty 15 March 2018

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    Um, no. You don't walk out of Rare with stuff like that!

    Sorry, Alchy - this just goes to prove the poor journalism of Edge. Core was basically bought by Rebellion two years ago - all but the name. Eidos still own the name. Eidos are a subsidiary of SCi, both of which are and always have been in London. Core Design WERE in Derby. Their registered address is now in Wimbledon, which is where Eidos are based.

    It also sounds like someone at Free Radical was on the scrounge! Treated like shit and poor security? How do they know the security was poor? Were people coming into work and wondering where their PS3 dev kits had gone?!

    Don't worry about the people, they should be OK. It sounds like Pumpkin Beach are taking on a few people. Radical might take on some (although that would be odd - didn't they get rid of half their Canadian staff recently?) Codemasters were sniffing around. Atari currently have several openings. OK, some of them may have to be prepared to move, but they should find somewhere.
     
  15. Alchy

    Alchy Illustrious Member

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    Fair enough, I'm not arguing that they're arbiters of pure truth, but honestly, Spong have been so horrific over the years that I'd take just about anyone else's word over theirs.
     
  16. retro

    retro Resigned from mod duty 15 March 2018

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    LOL, quite! I like the comment about the Holiday Inn next door. Technically, it isn't really next door! It'd take a minute or two to get there by car.
     
  17. skavenger216

    skavenger216 Familiar Face

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    If it makes you feel any better, I went out and bought Rainbow Six : Vegas 1 and 2 yesterday.:icon_bigg
     
  18. JubeiUK

    JubeiUK Member

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    That is a shame. I liked Free Radical and supported them by buying their games (except haze as I don't have ps3).

    It's another lose situation from the wide world of dying indie companies and the slow homogenisation of games developers into EA/UBI/MS Games Studios.

    I hope my other fave indie studio IO Interactive doesn't go the same way.
     
  19. retro

    retro Resigned from mod duty 15 March 2018

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    I don't think Vegas was developed in Canada though, was it?

    You left out what is now known as Atari. Infogrames bought out a great deal of UK indie developers back in the day. Oh, and a couple of small companies called Sony and Nintendo ;-) I guess SCi too - they own Eidos, who bought out several studios. Including IO Interactive in 2004, btw ;-)
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2008
  20. skavenger216

    skavenger216 Familiar Face

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    Im not sure actually. All I know is Subbie said buy Ubi games so i can keep my job ( :lol:LOL!!:lol:) and i just bought Vegas 1 and 2, both Ubi games, so i was just throwing it out there. What all games have been made by Ubi Canada ( just out of curiosity)?
     
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