Free Radical Closed for Good as Developers Say Their Goodbyes

Free Radical has officially closed its doors for good today following the announcement of its shutdown by Embracer.

[Terry_B]

Embracer totally unceremoniously shutting down their just reformed Free Radical Design around two years after buying them and before they were even able to show off their new Time Splitters game is SO Embracer Group. Meh.

Good luck to all devs finding a place elsewhere.

[coldfire984]

Embracer started off with W after W but lately its been nothing but Ls

[neutralgamer1992]

They never had the money to buy and support that’s why. Time splitters HD collection would be awesome

[0hMyGandhi]

I can't wait for people to move on from that vernacular.

[darthv72]

Man... I hope other studios can pick up these guys and put them to work.

[0hMyGandhi]

I'm surprised they didn't try to reform and do the whole kickstarter thing like other former Rare devs did with Playtonic, but with shooters instead of mascot platformers.

[Kados]

Embracer should liquidate all their IPs and shut down. They are a skid mark on the industry.

[dumahim]

Who would have ever seen this coming? *shocked Pikachu face*

[Kados]

Honestly, when they first formed, i had moderate expectations. They were formed by the same people behind THQ Nordic, which was a very good dev, and initially they seemed to be mostly buying up dead IPs that the prior owners had left in the back of the closet. Thought maybe they were actual gamers who were planning on reviving abandoned IPs.

They had an opportunity to be a major boon to the industry, but instead turned into a turd that just guarantees none of these games ever sees day again.

[0hMyGandhi]

They almost make EA look better by comparison. Almost.

[CobraKai]

I thought they closed decades ago

[Plague-Doctor27]

They did. Most of that old studio went on to form Dambuster Studio (Dead Island 2). Embracer bought the rights and created a new internal studio called Free Radical with some of the old team and got them working on a new TimeSplitters. They announced they are shutting that studio down today after about 2 years

[mastershredder]

This is some very sad news. They deserve so much better.

[SonyStyled]

I’m going to play a Haze in their memory

[vTuro24]

That's just sad.

[purple101]

What a waste of time and money.

Not to mention for creative people, to never see their work come to fruition, is heart breaking.

[DivineHand125]

Well it is disappointing to hear this news. I almost forgot about them because they haven't put out a game since 2014.

Unless they were working on some secret project for the past 9 years they weren't really doing anything so this news is no surprise