| Sources: TimeSplitters developer closes doors, Battlefront III shifted to new studio [Update] |
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| Written by Phil Meza | |
| Thursday, 18 December 2008 | |
Another one bites the dust. Following rumors early this morning, it's apparently been confirmed that UK-based Free Radical Design - the folks behind titles like the awful PS3-exclusive Haze and theTimeSplitters series - have shut down. According to sources, employees arrived at work this morning only to find that they were, in fact, locked out of the building. That's not a good thing. No additional details about the closure are known at this time, though it's assumed that it is a permanent move, as opossed to a "reorganization." 185 people will be affected by this. What does this mean for the studio's formerly 2009 TimeSplitters sequel, and the next Star Wars: Battlefront whcih has been rumored for months? No one knows, but according to other sources, Free Radical had recently lost the Battlefront contract with partner LucasArts. It's been reported that Battlefront III has been handed off to developer Rebellion, who handled the PSP installment: Renegade Squadron. Here's wishing everyone affected the best of luck. [Update]: Cameron Gunn of Resolve Partners - the company that Free Radical was into administration with - has issued a statement: "We will be spending the next three or four days assessing the financial position of the company but it's business as usual, although we have asked that almost all of the employees apart from a skeleton crew remain at home... All employees have been paid up until the end of December and we hope to make another announcement before Christmas or very soon thereafter, but we must stress at this stage that it's business as usual."
Meanwhile, a Free Radical employee has allegedly stated that talk of the closure is " not true." Huh.           |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 19 December 2008 ) |
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