Free Radical Design, the studio behind the beloved Timesplitters franchise, is officially closing down despite working on a fourth entry in the series.
Last month, it was reported that employees had received a company-wide email saying that Free Radical Design would shut down at the beginning of December following rumours that owners Embracer Group would be carrying out a restructuring program.
It’s now been confirmed by several developers that Free Radical Design has shut down (via GameRant).
Senior artist Mark Keighley wrote “It’s been a great 2 and a quarter years at Free Radical Design, sad to see us go,” on social media, with environment artist Kieran Riley sharing a group photo alongside the caption: “That’s it, today was the last day of Free Radical Design. Missing a couple of people from the art team here but wanted to say how much I loved working with the team and the whole company at large, I wish we had a chance to show what we were capable of.”
Senior tech artist Adam Kirlay wrote: “The last day at Free Radical Design was very different from what I imagined. I don’t think it sunk in properly just yet, but handed my keys in and left the building the last time. It’s Time to Split.”
It's been an honor working with these lot for the past year. All of them are amazing and talented individuals that made working here so much fun. It's sad to say goodbye like this.
Wishing you all the best! pic.twitter.com/Gy3ZIWPNjS
— Alex Tang (@alexkmtang1) December 11, 2023
Free Radical Design was launched in 1999 and went on to create a trilogy of Timesplitters titles before entering administration in 2009. It was acquired by Crytek the same year, before closing five years later with a majority of the staff being transferred to the newly formed Dambuster Studios.
In 2021, two of the original founders of Free Radical Design relaunched the studio to work on a fourth Timesplitters title under Embracer’s Deep Silver. “You asked us and we listened. We have been working on Plans to bring the TimeSplitters franchise back to life,” said the studio at the time.
However, back in June, Embracer laid off over 900 employees with bosses blaming a worsening global economy. CEO Lars Wingefors said he was “determined to transform Embracer into a leaner, stronger group,” but added that it was “painful” he needed to fire so many staff to make that possible. “We have been and are doing everything we can to preserve jobs without changing what we need to achieve,” he added.
In other news, Remedy Entertainment has released a new update for Alan Wake 2, featuring a new ending alongside various improvements.
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