Free Radical comprada pela Critek (confirmado)

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Independent UK studio Free Radical Design closed its doors this morning, our sister site GamesIndustry.biz reports, 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."

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.


Fonte: Eurogamer
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Mesma noticia mas em PT
De acordo com o site GamesIndustry.biz a produtora britânica Free Radical Design vai fechar as suas portas.

A companhia por detrás da popular série de jogos TimeSplitters, lançou recentemente o tão criticado e mal sucedido Haze para a Playstation 3.
Várias fontes relacionadas com diferentes membros do estúdio, incluindo executivos de alto nível,, afirmam que todos eles deixaram a companhia, o que pode indiciar um encerramento, ainda que tudo isto de momento não tenha sido comunicado de forma oficial.

A concretizar-se, vão assim ser cancelados vários projectos que estavam em desenvolvimento, tais como o quarto jogo da saga TimeSplitters e um título que ainda não tinha sido anunciado, mas que se suspeitava ser um novo Star Wars Battlefront.
Segundo alguns relatos, alguns trabalhadores teriam encontrado as portas fechadas quando iam trabalhar, tendo sido mais tarde convocados para se dirigir a um hotel para uma ultima reunião.

Actualizado:
Ao que tudo indica a Free Radical ainda não fechou as suas portas, mas no entanto parece que não têm meios para pagar as suas dívidas.
Cameron Gunn, empregado da firma de administração Resolve Partners, contou a um jornal local que, "Em negócios já é costume, no entanto, aparte do núcleo duro da equipa, pedimos à maioria dos empregados para ficarem em casa."

Todos os empregados da Free Radical foram pagos até ao final de Dezembro. E depois de uma análise financeira aprofundada da
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Source: Free Radical Locked Up

A source close to staff at Free Radical Design told us on Thursday that the developer has shut its doors--and changed the locks--just before the Christmas holiday.

"Staff arrived for work this morning to find the locks had been changed and notices on the doors advising them to attend a meeting at a nearby Novotel [a hotel chain] at 12 noon today," said the source, who preferred anonymity and worked with Free Radical in better times. "Heavy duty security staff was patrolling the buildings."

"...I think they're all a bit shell-shocked."

The studio employed around 150-200 staff, the tipster said. "After the poor reviews of Haze and subsequent loss of a contract with LucasArts, Free Radical was struggling to find publishers to back the long-awaited TimeSplitters 4 and other smaller projects and were left with no choice but to pull the plug."

Free Radical was founded in 1999 by former Rare developers including David Doak, Steve Ellis, Graeme Norgate and Karl Hilton, who created games including Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark. Free Radical also created the aforementioned TimeSplitters series of games.

The independent studio had a publishing deal with LucasArts on the unannounced Star Wars Battlefront III, a deal that fell through in October after about two years of development, the source said. "Free Radical was relying on Lucas for further contracts which had been promised in some sort of exclusivity deal. Obviously that all went down the pan."

Perhaps the worst news for fans of the studio is the demise of TimeSplitters 4. "They had already started working on TimeSplitters 4, and had been for over a year, but due to the failure of Haze and the deal falling through with Lucas, they couldn't get a publisher to back them. They had a last ditch attempt last week down South somewhere, but it came to nothing so I think that was the last hope."

The source claimed that the company "didn't treat their staff well at all." Rumors of a closure were circulating within the company for "a few weeks."

"People have been leaving in droves due to lack of security, poor treatment of staff, better offers and guaranteed work from other local developers such as Monumental Games and one in Derby whose name escapes me [Rebellion and Core Design both have Derby locations--ed.]."

Doak reportedly "officially" left the company early this month, and Ellis has set up another company called Pumpkin Beach, which already has a placeholder website registered under his name. The two are reportedly working on this project together and will "hand pick" Free Radical staff to join them.

The source also said that despite the looming closure, the company still held a big Christmas party last week and gave staff a week's pay as a Christmas bonus.

Attempts to contact Free Radical have been unsuccessful.

After the meeting

Later on Thursday, our source updated us with more inside information from the Free Radical staff meeting that took place at a hotel near the studio. Apparently, Free Radical knew the urgency of its situation six months ago.

Co-founder Ellis was "visibly upset" when he talked to the staff, the source said. "[He] told staff how very sorry he was and they'd been doing all they could, working flat-out to either find a publisher or a buyer over the past six months, but no offers were made. There have been several visits to the States, but to no avail."

About 20 staff members were offered positions, possibly with Ellis' new venture, Pumpkin Beach, although this is yet to be confirmed. The rest of the employees were told in a separate room that they would be laid off.

Staff had reportedly been paid to the end of December, but are not expected to receive any further compensation "as there was nothing left to give."

Reps from U.K. game makers Codemasters and Monumental Games were at the hotel after the meeting asking for CVs and applications from former Free Radical staffers.
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Fonte: http://www.edge-online.com/features/source-free-radical-locked-up


Ainda há hipótese de comprarem a developer:

"Significant Interest" Shown in Buying Free Radical

ReSolve, the appointed administrator of Free Radical, has told us that there has already been a significant interest shown in buying the troubled developer.

Yesterday evening Free Radical was officially placed into administration, just hours after its staff were refused entry into the company’s offices and told to meet at the nearby Novotel hotel. It was here where an emotional Steve Ellis (co-founder) explained to the group the severity of Free Radical’s circumstances.

Edge has been told from sources close to the matter that "well over 100" people have already left the group, and that a number of companies were in Free Radical’s home city of Nottingham yesterday to pay condolences and network with the staff. Realtime Worlds, Codemasters, Monumental and Eurocom all had a presence in the area, according to accounts from two of our sources.

ReSolve’s Cameron Gunn responded that he is "not aware of any formal resignations over the last 24 hours, but we can’t stop people resigning from Free Radical."

"Not a single person had been made redundant, though the company reserves the right to do so. The staff have been paid December salaries and told to go home. What we are trying to do right now for the first few days is understand the present financial position of the company. We have a team of people doing that right now, who are on site looking into the records."

ReSolve will soon be marketing the business for sale as a going concern, which, if successful, will involve the transfer of any employees who are left in the company. It is understood that two undisclosed projects that Free Radical had been working on are still being looked over, as these were the two projects that generated the most interest from publishers and have the biggest potential. Yesterday’s selection of staff at the Novotel – where members were picked out and asked to continue working at Free Radical's offices for the time being – is said to be related to these two projects.

"We are very confident that we will achieve a sale if we decide to market the business", says Gunn, "it’s a testament to the employees and the regard of the company that a significant interest has already been shown."

Gunn wouldn’t specify where the interest is originating from, neither by company or business sector, or indeed how many parties are interested.
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Fonte: http://www.edge-online.com/news/“significant-interest”-shown-buying-free-radical

O "interesse" pode ser bluff para aliciar possiveis compradores, mas... boa sorte.

1Up:

Free Radical Employees Say It's Not Over for Studio
Staff member tells 1UP two secret projects getting a lot of publisher interest.

Yesterday, shock reports began to circulate that independent UK-based developer Free Radical Design had suddenly and unceremoniously closed its doors just before the holiday season. But 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 and 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.

From the sound of it the fat lady hasn't even gotten out of bed yet for Free Radical, much less started to sing.
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Fonte: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171987
 
É uma pena isto acontecer, especialmente nesta altura do ano. Hoje em dia é muito difícil para uma produtora recuperar depois dum lançamento falhado, veja-se o que também o que está acontecer com a Factor 5 e a EA Black Box (nesse caso foram vários jogos, mas pronto). Para além disso, a indústria não está imune à crise económica, como se pode ver pelos vários reports de empresas a despedirem milhares de empregos e a cancelarem projectos devido aos prejuízos.

Enfim, veremos se ainda serão capazes de manter a equipa junta ou se terão mesmo de procurar trabalho noutro lado.
 
DragonspiritPT disse:
Será que foi à pala do Haze?
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Isso, a Lucasarts ter mandado às couves um jogo que estava a ser feito pela Free Radical há dois anos (decerto consequencia da estratégia de shrink down feita há uns meses em que a equipa interna do Force Unleashed já sabia que ia para a rua mal acabasse o jogo... ANTES deste sair), os custos de produção, a reluctancia das editoras em se comprometerem a publicar o Time Splitters 4 e "outros projectos"; a situação do mercado actual... por aí fora.

O Haze decerto não ajudou, mas se alguma coisa ajuda menos andarem a desenvolver jogos sem editora, pelo que tomara eles neste momento terem uma "coisa" dessas em mãos, como tiveram, com editora e afins.
 
Free Radical posta à venda:

Free Radical put up for sale as jobs cut
Administrators seek purchaser for trimmed UK developer

Free Radical still exists, that we can confirm, but things aren't looking good with more than 75% of the workforce now made redundant (over 140 employees); the developer officially up for sale.

The Nottingham-based game developer entered administration in the run up to Christmas, with Resolve Partners appointed to make the best of a bad situation.

Cameron Gunn, representing the administrators, reveals that there has been a lot of interest from third-parties considering the purchase of the developer, other gaming firms presumably eyeing IP like TimeSplitters with interest.

Forty employees remain at Free Radical, the 140 redundancies effective from the end of the year.

It remains to be seen if something of Free Radical can be saved, but with costs now dramatically cut there certainly seems to be a good chance of something being salvaged.
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Fonte: http://play.tm/news/22750/free-radical-put-up-for-sale-as-jobs-cut/
 
Novidades esta semana:

Fate of Free Radical Design to be decided this week

The fate of Free Radical Design will be announced formally this Wednesday, February 4.

The TimeSplitters and Haze developer went into administration at the end of the year, and numbers were cut at the studio bringing headcount down to 40.

Administrator ReSolve Partners has said that it will make the announcement this week, after indicating that there has been "very strong" interest in the company.

While the administrator had been striving to sell the company as a whole, ReSolve did indicate that it would be prepared to split technology, IP and other assets if it meant a more lucrative sale.

A number of companies have been rumoured to be interested in Free Radical Design, including Codemasters and Monumental Games, but ReSolve has also indicated that there has been interest from outside of the videogames industry.
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Fonte: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/fate-of-free-radical-design-to-be-decided-this-week
 
Crytek Purchases Free Radical, Says Company Scriptwriter

Free Radical's Rob Yescombe just confirmed to 1UP that the recently troubled developer has been bought for an undisclosed sum by Germany-based Crytek (best known for the games Far Cry and Crysis). This ends weeks of uncertainty about the future of the company, which many had guessed might be forced to shut its doors. When Free Radical employees arrived at work at the company's four Nottingham, UK offices on December 18, they found that they were locked out, with a sign asking them to attend a meeting at a nearby hotel. There it was confirmed that the company had gone into administration, a process in the UK whereby companies can continue to trade while their financial woes are tackled, hopefully meaning that the company can be saved from complete closure.

On December 31, administrator Cameron Gunn of ReSolve Partners announced that although the developer would continue to operate, it would be shedding 140 staff. The remaining 40 employees stayed on at the company working out of one office. Gunn stated at the time that there had been "strong interest" from a number of parties worldwide for the developer.

Speaking from his local pub, Yescombe told us, "After seven long weeks of uncertainty, I can confirm that Free Radical is now out of the woods. We've been bought by a really, really good company." He added, in what was possibly a first for the outspoken writer, "I'm so excited I'm lost for words." Then he found some and continued: "It's the smoothest deal we've ever done. It all went through quickly, efficiently, fantastically..."

Yescombe said that he was unsure what the deal would mean for those made redundant on New Year's Eve, but that he hoped the company could ramp back up to its former size. Asked about what the team will be working on -- and specifically if this means we will one day see TimeSplitters 4 -- he said, "We don't know yet. We'll find out over the coming weeks."

We've contacted Crytek for more details, and to confirm from their side.
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http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172598
 
Boas notícias, desta vez oficiais:

Over 40 jobs have been saved at UK studio Free Radical Design, following its purchase by Crytek last night.

"We are pleased to announce that a sale completed to Crytek late last night thus preserving over 40 jobs," confirmed Cameron Gunn, administrator at ReSolve Partners.

A formal announcement is expected later today. It is not yet clear whether Crytek has acquired the whole business, including intellectual properties such as TimeSplitters and Second Sight.

Free Radical Design went into administration just before Christmas last year, laying off more than 140 positions. However, administrator Resolve was confident of a sale following significant interest.
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Fonte

Nottingham based developer to become Crytek UK

Frankfurt a. M. (Germany) / Nottingham (United Kingdom), February 4th 2009 - Crytek GmbH (“Crytek”) announced today that it has acquired all assets and business of Free Radical Design Limited (“Free Radical”). Free Radical is based in Nottingham, United Kingdom and is known for the multi-award winning Timesplitters series. The studio will now be integrated into Crytek’s network.

Avni Yerli, Managing Director of Crytek, said, “We’re very excited about this step to expand Crytek into the UK with such an experienced and highly talented team. Free Radical Design is a great fit to Crytek and its culture, given that Free Radical has a proven track record on delivering high quality games. The combination of this team, the Crytek network and our CryENGINE technology will be a foundation for outstanding gaming experiences and a magnet for the best talent in the UK.”
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A Crytek continua a expandir-se, já conta com 5 estúdios neste momento.
 
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