 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | April 1999; 26 years ago (1999-04) (original)[1] May 2021; 4 years ago (2021-05) (revival) |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | 3 February 2009; 17 years ago (2009-02-03) (original) 11 December 2023; 2 years ago (2023-12-11) (revival) |
| Headquarters | , England |
Key people |
|
| Products | TimeSplitters |
Number of employees | 50+ (2022) |
| Parent |
|
| Website | www |
Free Radical Design Ltd. was a Britishvideo game developer based inNottingham. Founded byDavid Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton andGraeme Norgate inStoke-on-Trent in April 1999, it is best known for itsTimeSplitters series of games.[2]
After going into financial administration, it was announced on 3 February 2009 that the studio had been acquired by German video game developerCrytek and would be renamedCrytek UK.[3] Crytek had a good relationship with the city of Nottingham due in part to its sponsorship of theGamecity festival and its recruitment drives withNottingham Trent University.[4] In 2014, the studio was closed, with a majority of the staff transferred to the newly formedDambuster Studios.[5][6]
In May 2021, two of the original founders, Doak and Ellis, reformed Free Radical Design underDeep Silver to create a new entry in theTimeSplitters series. Two years later, the second iteration was shut down on 11 December 2023.
Most of Free Radical Design's initial employees previously worked for the game developerRare. While at Rare, they (David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton,Graeme Norgate, Lee Ray and James Cunliffe) worked on theNintendo 64first-person shootersGoldenEye 007 andPerfect Dark. From late 1998 to early 1999, this team left Rare to form Free Radical Design, which was established in April 1999, their first release beingTimeSplitters for thePlayStation 2 in 2000. It was known for its very fast-paced gameplay and its particular emphasis onmultiplayer rather than story.[2]TimeSplitters attracted attention at the time because of the former Rare employees' work on the critically acclaimedGoldenEye 007. Its sequel,first-person shooterTimeSplitters 2, released with critical acclaim in 2002.
Free Radical Design was working onStar Wars: Battlefront III from 2006 to 2008, but it was cancelled by their publishing partner when it was supposedly "99 percent" complete.[7] The cancellation of this title, and the poorly received release ofHaze, contributed to Free Radical Design going into bankruptcy.[1] In late 2008, Free Radical Design was approached byActivision to work onaGoldenEye 007 remake. Although the studio rebuilt the Dam Level for thePlayStation 3 andXbox 360, negotiations fell through, with the studio entering administration soon afterwards.[1] Theremake would release on those consoles without FRD's involvement in 2011 as anenhanced port of its original release on theWii andNintendo DS a year prior.
On 18 December 2008, it was reported that the studio had shut down,[8] though it was later confirmed that the company had gone bankrupt,[9] leaving only 40 of the original 185 staff still employed.[10] On 3 February 2009, theHaze scriptwriter, Rob Yescombe, announced that Free Radical Design had been purchased by the German developerCrytek.[11] In 2010, the company moved from Sandiacre to brand-new offices in the new central Nottingham Southreef development. The £50 million investment would then have allowed Crytek UK to "grow over the next few months".[4]
In June 2014, reports surfaced that Crytek had missed wage payments and withheld bonuses, that a number of employees had filedgrievances and refused to report to work, and that at least 30 employees had left since 2011 alone due to a decreasingmorale. After denying that there were problems, Crytek said on 25 July 2014 that it was in a "transitional phase" as it securedcapital for future projects, with an emphasis on online gaming.[12][13]
On 30 July 2014, Crytek announced that, due to an internal restructuring, it would sell the intellectual property ofHomefront (the sequel for which, later restructured as the rebootHomefront: The Revolution, was in development at Crytek UK at the time) toKoch Media, parent company of video game publisherDeep Silver, and lay off much of the company's staff. Crytek left it unclear whether the company had been shut down entirely, however all staff were transferred to the newDambuster Studios being established in Nottingham in accordance withBritish law,[14] where they afterwards continued to work onHomefront: The Revolution.[5][15][16]
In May 2021,Embracer Group announced during their 2020–2021 full-year report that Free Radical Design would be reformed as a subsidiary ofDeep Silver with the intent of bringing "the much-lovedTimeSplitters IP back to life".[17] Key original members of the original Free Radical Design were involved in the reformation including founders Steve Ellis and David Doak. Their studio was based in Nottingham.[18]
In November 2023,VGC reported that the company was set to be closed down on 11 December by the Embracer Group, which had been restructuring its company and subsidiaries for the last six months, unless a third-party buyer was found.[19] Developers confirmed the closure on 11 December.[20]
| Year | Game | Publisher(s) | Genre(s) | Platform(s) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCN | Win | PS2 | PS3 | Xbox | ||||||||
| 2000 | TimeSplitters | Eidos Interactive | First-person shooter | No | No | Yes | No | No | ||||
| 2002 | TimeSplitters 2 | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | ||||||
| 2004 | Second Sight | Codemasters | Action-adventure,stealth | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||||
| 2005 | TimeSplitters: Future Perfect | Electronic Arts | First-person shooter | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | ||||
| 2008 | Haze | Ubisoft | No | No | No | Yes | No | |||||
| Year | Game | Publisher(s) | Genre(s) | Platform(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | PS3 | X360 | ||||
| 2011 | Crysis 2 | Electronic Arts | First-person shooter | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Crysis (port) | No | Yes | Yes | |||
| 2013 | Crysis 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2014 | Warface | Microsoft Studios | No | No | Yes | |
| Franchises |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Studios | ||
| Related | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
