Free Radical Just Shut Down!!! *violently weeps*

Poor Free Radical

I want timesplitters4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ever since they first announced Haze I've been saying they should have just made TS4... and now they are facing the music. It is unfortunate that 180 people lost their jobs but they did it to themselves with an untested, exclusive IP in a field they have little experience in ("realistic" shooters).

I do hope the TS IP isn't lost forever... it has always been the shining light for N64-styIe console FPS's... what I tend to refer to as "true" console FPS's (they are entirely different than what is offered on PC).foxhound_fox

Too bad about the lost jobs, but the Free Radical was a mediocre developer whose last game was terrible so as a gamer I'm unbothered by their dissolution.

I doubt just one bad shooter killed them. In fact I heard Haze sold half a million copies.gunswordfist

Too bad about the lost jobs, but the Free Radical was a mediocre developer whose last game was terrible so as a gamer I'm unbothered by their dissolution.

CarnageHeart

My sentiments exactly.

Too bad about the lost jobs, but the Free Radical was a mediocre developer whose last game was terrible so as a gamer I'm unbothered by their dissolution.

My sentiments exactly.

But wait! Who's gonna make the follow up for Second Sight now??! :cry:

Oh yeah, and T4 too......

Yay this is good news for me because I don't want those losers touching the Starwars Battlefront Game._Kikode_

Come on, you know that DICE should just make it. Battlefront has always been a wannabe Battlefield with Star Wars added in anyway. That will never happen though....

But about Free Radical- all of you who say you don't like Timesplitters- What is wrong with you? If you could play through Future Perfect and not smile at least once, you have a heart made out of stone or ice or something like that.

Come on, you know that DICE should just make it. Battlefront has always been a wannabe Battlefield with Star Wars added in anyway. That will never happen though....

But about Free Radical- all of you who say you don't like Timesplitters- What is wrong with you? If you could play through Future Perfect and not smile at least once, you have a heart made out of stone or ice or something like that.

But about Free Radical- all of you who say you don't like Timesplitters- What is wrong with you? If you could play through Future Perfect and not smile at least once, you have a heart made out of stone or ice or something like that. AtomicTangerine

yea im betting the people bashing free radical are like 13 year olds who just started gaming this generation and never played the timesplitters series. Yes, Haze sucked (havent played it myself) , but every other game made by Free Radical has been great.

A few members did start a new studio. So hopefully, the Free Radical spirit can live on.

yea im betting the people bashing free radical are like 13 year olds who just started gaming this generation and never played the timesplitters series.lazyhoboguy

And proud of it.

You know, it wasn't just Haze that bombed. TimeSplitters didn't sell that much, likely not enough to make a profit. They were working on TS4 for over a year with their own money, but they couldn't get a single publisher to back it due to the financial results of the previous games in the series. Thus, they sunk.argianas

Nooooooooooo We need TS4!!!McMJ3

actually timesplitters 1 sold 8 million copies, on ps2 alone being exclusive, and you know what, the guys behind times plitters did

perfect dark 1 -8-9 million sold n64

goldeneye 8 million sold n64

timesplitters 2 -same as timesplitters 1 but on all 3 platforms

timesplitters 3 sold just under 8 , so timesplitters was thier popular title, and was a popular hit so good that i had a hard time findin my copy of timesplitters 1 for ps2 , ,

haze is definatelly the cause as well as ps3 ,at the time ,

if they had release haze on wii and 360 to theyd do good, but go to wiki pedia, in the article they confirmed that all this is a rumor not true , their site is stilll up so thats a indicater that free radical still up and running ,

if they had release haze on wii and 360 to theyd do good, but go to wiki pedia, in the article they confirmed that all this is a rumor not true , their site is stilll up so thats a indicater that free radical still up and running. mariokart64fan

[QUOTE="mariokart64fan"]if they had release haze on wii and 360 to theyd do good, but go to wiki pedia, in the article they confirmed that all this is a rumor not true , their site is stilll up so thats a indicater that free radical still up and running. smerlus

It's Karaoke. Jeez! We can't take you anywhere. Really. *exasperated sigh* juradai

Timesplitters 4 concept art foxhound_fox

[QUOTE="lazyhoboguy"]yea im betting the people bashing free radical are like 13 year olds who just started gaming this generation and never played the timesplitters series.UpInFlames

And proud of it.

[QUOTE="UpInFlames"]

[QUOTE="lazyhoboguy"]yea im betting the people bashing free radical are like 13 year olds who just started gaming this generation and never played the timesplitters series.MAILER_DAEMON

And proud of it.

As anyone else seen this?

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171987 It seems not all of Free Radical is over.

According to employees, the TimeSplitters developer remains open for business and there is still hope that a solution can be found for its woes.

An employee who wishes to remain anonymous wanted to set things straight to 1up. They said that contrary to reports, "Free Radical has *not* closed. There's still a skeleton crew of guys staying on maintaining business as usual, and nobody's been formally made redundant." It is believed that about 20 staff members are manning the fort in the company's four office buildings in Nottingham, with the remaining 160 or so being asked to stay at home.

The team remain hopeful that a solution can be reached and everything will be back to normal in the new year. Our source repeats, "They're not closed. The intention is, going forwards, that hopefully the skeleton crew can shock things back to life in the new year and things can ramp back up from there. But they are *not* out of business."

Free Radical went into administration on December 18. Administration is a process in the UK that a company which has become insolvent can choose instead of liquidation to continue running the business. The administration company acts in the interest of creditors and attempts to rescue its charge. ReSolve, the administration company tasked with rescuing Free Radical commented that it was "very confident" that a buyer could be found for the business if a decision is made to sell.

Officially, Free Radical Design is currently working on two games--TimeSplitters 4, and a secret LucasArts project rumored to be Star Wars Battlefront III (and also rumored to have been turned over to other UK dev Rebellion instead). However, our source implies that there may be more projects underway which have not yet been announced. They told 1up, "There's a number of cool projects in development--two of which are getting quite a lot of publisher interest already." It is not known if TimeSplitters 4, which the company has been working on for over a year, is one of these.

Some hope left for Timesplitters 4.

As anyone else seen this?

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171987 It seems not all of Free Radical is over.

According to employees, the TimeSplitters developer remains open for business and there is still hope that a solution can be found for its woes.

An employee who wishes to remain anonymous wanted to set things straight to 1up. They said that contrary to reports, "Free Radical has *not* closed. There's still a skeleton crew of guys staying on maintaining business as usual, and nobody's been formally made redundant." It is believed that about 20 staff members are manning the fort in the company's four office buildings in Nottingham, with the remaining 160 or so being asked to stay at home.

The team remain hopeful that a solution can be reached and everything will be back to normal in the new year. Our source repeats, "They're not closed. The intention is, going forwards, that hopefully the skeleton crew can shock things back to life in the new year and things can ramp back up from there. But they are *not* out of business."

Free Radical went into administration on December 18. Administration is a process in the UK that a company which has become insolvent can choose instead of liquidation to continue running the business. The administration company acts in the interest of creditors and attempts to rescue its charge. ReSolve, the administration company tasked with rescuing Free Radical commented that it was "very confident" that a buyer could be found for the business if a decision is made to sell.

Officially, Free Radical Design is currently working on two games--TimeSplitters 4, and a secret LucasArts project rumored to be Star Wars Battlefront III (and also rumored to have been turned over to other UK dev Rebellion instead). However, our source implies that there may be more projects underway which have not yet been announced. They told 1up, "There's a number of cool projects in development--two of which are getting quite a lot of publisher interest already." It is not known if TimeSplitters 4, which the company has been working on for over a year, is one of these.

Some hope left for Timesplitters 4.

ASK_Story

Timesplitters 4 concept art:









foxhound_fox

Very nice artwork!

yea im betting the people bashing free radical are like 13 year olds who just started gaming this generation and never played the timesplitters series. Yes, Haze sucked (havent played it myself) , but every other game made by Free Radical has been great.

A few members did start a new studio. So hopefully, the Free Radical spirit can live on.

lazyhoboguy

The campaign modes of the Timesplitters games were never in the same league as Halo (not even Halo 2), Red Faction (even the regrettable RF2 embarrasses TS in terms of the campaign) or even the similarly multiplayer focused SOCOM (the original SOCOM's campaign was terrible, but 2 and 3 boasted solid campaigns).

And any developer that releases a game as garbage as Haze (which I have played) deserves to fail.

As anyone else seen this?

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171987 It seems not all of Free Radical is over.

According to employees, the TimeSplitters developer remains open for business and there is still hope that a solution can be found for its woes.

An employee who wishes to remain anonymous wanted to set things straight to 1up. They said that contrary to reports, "Free Radical has *not* closed. There's still a skeleton crew of guys staying on maintaining business as usual, and nobody's been formally made redundant." It is believed that about 20 staff members are manning the fort in the company's four office buildings in Nottingham, with the remaining 160 or so being asked to stay at home.

The team remain hopeful that a solution can be reached and everything will be back to normal in the new year. Our source repeats, "They're not closed. The intention is, going forwards, that hopefully the skeleton crew can shock things back to life in the new year and things can ramp back up from there. But they are *not* out of business."

Free Radical went into administration on December 18. Administration is a process in the UK that a company which has become insolvent can choose instead of liquidation to continue running the business. The administration company acts in the interest of creditors and attempts to rescue its charge. ReSolve, the administration company tasked with rescuing Free Radical commented that it was "very confident" that a buyer could be found for the business if a decision is made to sell.

Officially, Free Radical Design is currently working on two games--TimeSplitters 4, and a secret LucasArts project rumored to be Star Wars Battlefront III (and also rumored to have been turned over to other UK dev Rebellion instead). However, our source implies that there may be more projects underway which have not yet been announced. They told 1up, "There's a number of cool projects in development--two of which are getting quite a lot of publisher interest already." It is not known if TimeSplitters 4, which the company has been working on for over a year, is one of these.

Some hope left for Timesplitters 4.

ASK_Story

*Shakes head* There are two types of publishers. There are publishers who believe talent/quality will eventually be rewarded (which is why teams like Q, Doublefine and Platinum can find publishers despite not having a strong record of commercial success) and there are publishers who focus on a game's marketablity or a team's record of commercial success (which is why games like 50 Cent Blood in the Sand find publishers). I don't see why either type would be interested in Free Radical give its history (mediocre at best games in what is now an incredibly competitive genre, low sales).

Admittedly, I don't have the NPD numbers of the Timesplitters games, but the 3 games went through two publishers (Eidos and EA) so its a safe bet the numbers weren't good. Of course, publishers sometimes make stupid decisions, so there's still a sliver of hope for Free Radical.

Oh okay, thank the gaming gods.allnamestaken

[QUOTE="lazyhoboguy"]

yea im betting the people bashing free radical are like 13 year olds who just started gaming this generation and never played the timesplitters series. Yes, Haze sucked (havent played it myself) , but every other game made by Free Radical has been great.

A few members did start a new studio. So hopefully, the Free Radical spirit can live on.

CarnageHeart

The campaign modes of the Timesplitters games were never in the same league as Halo (not even Halo 2), Red Faction (even the regrettable RF2 embarrasses TS in terms of the campaign) or even the similarly multiplayer focused SOCOM (the original SOCOM's campaign was terrible, but 2 and 3 boasted solid campaigns).

And any developer that releases a game as garbage as Haze (which I have played) deserves to fail.

[QUOTE="CarnageHeart"][QUOTE="lazyhoboguy"]

yea im betting the people bashing free radical are like 13 year olds who just started gaming this generation and never played the timesplitters series. Yes, Haze sucked (havent played it myself) , but every other game made by Free Radical has been great.

A few members did start a new studio. So hopefully, the Free Radical spirit can live on.

lazyhoboguy

The campaign modes of the Timesplitters games were never in the same league as Halo (not even Halo 2), Red Faction (even the regrettable RF2 embarrasses TS in terms of the campaign) or even the similarly multiplayer focused SOCOM (the original SOCOM's campaign was terrible, but 2 and 3 boasted solid campaigns).

And any developer that releases a game as garbage as Haze (which I have played) deserves to fail.

Given the fact the campaigns were a sloppy afterthought, its reasonable to assume that the handful who enjoyed Timesplitters must have derived their enjoyment from the multiplayer. Last gen I wasn't an online gamer, so I judged games by the quality of their SP campaigns.

This gen, I am an online gamer, so I can accept online only games (though IIRC the first two Timesplitters didn't have online play), but I think developers should be honest. If one is going to focus on online play, fine, but don't include a throwaway campaign mode just so you can have an extra bullet point on the back of the box (which is what FR did with the TS games).

It sucks for FRD, but I personally thought they were one of the more overrated developers out there. They got a ton of attention as a result of some of the company being ex-Rareware guys from the Goldeneye/Perfect Dark teams, but their games never even came close to matching Rare's games.

The original Timesplitter's was one of the more overrated launch games in recent memory. A multi-player based shooter with a few average maps that looked like it was developed on the N64, lacking online play at a time when the brilliant Quake 3 Arena was on the Dreamcast with better maps, better action, and full online. As was Unreal Tournament. Not to mention Perfect Dark hit N64 that year and was a better game in every way.

Timesplitters 2 was better, but still lacked online and like the entire series, had a throwaway joke of a campaign mode. Which made it pointless to me next to something like Halo. I also never cared for the controls which always felt like they were stuck in the N64 era on better controllers. Timesplitters 3 finally added online, but by that point the series felt totally stale and most people didn't care. Then they followed those up with Second Sight; an average adventure game, and Haze; a horrible shooter.

So really, it was only a matter of time before Free Radical went down. In many ways, Haze was a make or break game for them. A game where they could either prove they were capable of making a blockbuster game, or fall into obscurity.

I'm inclined to believe that he was merely being facetious regarding the gross assumption made by the poster he is quoting.SteelAttack

I thought that was painfully obvious...gotta make a conscious effort to use emoticons more often, I guess.

CarnageHeart