Admin confirms Free Radical demise

By Robert Purchese Published 22 December, 2008

Only 40 staff remain at Haze developer.

Administration company Resolve has confirmed the demise of Haze developer Free Radical Design.

"The company was placed in to administration yesterday afternoon," Resolve spokesperson Cameron Gunn told ThisIsNottingham last week.

"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," added Gunn.

Our sister site GamesIndustry.biz understands around 40 staff are still at FRD - a number cut from 185 - working on concepts into 2009.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • david78 #1 3 years ago

    Hopefully they can come out of this - it's not looking too good right now though.

  • Skooch #2 3 years ago

    Well, not surprising considering the pap that was Haze. Still, never good to see people lose jobs at Christmas.

  • BartonFink #3 3 years ago

    Damned shame, no Timesplitters 4 then.
    Still Hazelol

  • kangarootoo #4 3 years ago

    At least they have been paid for this month. Hardly a great situation all the same.

  • Doctor_What #5 3 years ago

    Do they get redundancy payments if they go into admin? I hope so, for their sake. It'll be very tough in 2009 for them otherwise.

  • GamesConnoisseur #6 3 years ago

    Sad times, not a right time for us to score points in relation to ongoing 'consolewarz' tm.

    See if Timesplitters franchise will get bidded as would be one of FRD biggest asset, talents will find a new home..eventually.

  • Shinomo #7 3 years ago

    As a fan of the Timesplitters franchise, I'm saddened to hear this. It's not exactly an ideal time of year to be losing your job either (though there hardly ever IS an ideal time, is there?).

    I was disappointed in Haze, and was almost positive that Timesplitters 4 would be a return to form for FRD for the now current gen. Now things are looking pretty rough and almost a year's worth of work looks set to be thrown out the window, which is deplorable.

    Here's hoping they pull through. They deserve better.

  • jonsaan #8 3 years ago

    A real shame. Haze is far better than you would think. Drop in, drop out MP. Split screen online MP. Nice graphics, awesome controls. A shame.

  • penhalion #9 3 years ago

    They are in administration. There is no coming out of it!

    The remaining staff will have been kept to ensure that assets are properly counted and to see what properties can be sold on t others. I suspect such classics as the time splitters franchise, second sight franchise etc. etc. will be up for grabs soon.

    I'd buy second sight for a dollar.

  • rudedudejude #10 3 years ago

    I guess they had to release haze to at least make some return - hence why it wasn't very good.

  • peterfll #11 3 years ago

    I agree that it's a rubbish time to be laid off, but I can never quite understand some of the people who say "how dare they at this time of year!". The sad fact is, business is business and it doesn't care what at what point a company fails according to the gregorian calendar.

  • GiarcYekrub #12 3 years ago

    I wonder what departments the personel they kept on are they still have the original timesplitters engine and the haze one for that matter so a smattering of artists for new assets and couple of level designers could possibly pull of a EA type timesplitters sequel

  • mrmonkey1980 #13 3 years ago

    So it's business as usual, but they have died? Ok....

    On the one hand I want someone to buy TS4 so I can play it, but on the other hand I know it won't be the same made by someone else. I hope all the workers land on their feet soon

  • mingster #14 3 years ago

    You don't get redundancy if you go into administration.
    If you are owed money you have to put in a claim with the recievers and you got paid out if theirs any money left after paying all the other creditors.

  • Lamb #15 3 years ago

    Remember your promise to Merino, err.. Mourinho, Dan Marino?...excuse me the creditors.

    While most of the dialogue in Haze was weak it would have passed as a mediocre game if not for the recuring phrases that really sunk the game. Although the EG review is spot on about its flaws.

    Still its rough to get fired and everyone is these days. Let us pray that with Christmas things will start to improve for everybody.

  • Mr-Bozzey #16 3 years ago

    "A real shame. Haze is far better than you would think. Drop in, drop out MP. Split screen online MP. Nice graphics, awesome controls. A shame."

    LMAO your having a laugh aint ya ?

    SD graphics demo shocking script crummy gameplay bug ridden crappy fire physics shoddy storyline untold horrors AI wise.

    its the worst game ever made this gen nd if you think its a masterpiece my god you have the most backward taste in games ever !!

  • Mr_Majestik #17 3 years ago

    Some of the original FRD staff (and the ex Goldeneye folk) left a while ago to open a new studio. So hopefully something goodcan come out of all this...

  • chrisjm #18 3 years ago

    they would get statutory redundancy as i think if the company cant pay it the gov does, its peanuts though.

  • Aretak #19 3 years ago

    "its the worst game ever made this gen"

    Nope, that's still Lair.

  • charlosio #20 3 years ago

    Thats a real shame they're in administration. I just really hope the timesplitters franchise stays on home soil and doesn't become yankafied.

  • The-Bodybuilder #21 3 years ago

    Now's the time to own an administration company, I tell ya.

  • metalangel #22 3 years ago

    Why they made Haze instead of Timesplitters 4, I don't think anyone will understand. Did they really see the overcrowded 'Halo clones with a gimmick' market and declare 'ME TOO!'?

  • chris_ace #23 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • oreillymj #24 3 years ago

    I thought that with Administration there is hope for recovery. It just gives you time to find additional investment while keeping creditors off your back.

    In normal times, you might find that investment and come out of Admin, like Eidos did. Of course at the moment, no one has a pot to piss in,never mind make risky investments in video game companies.

    If there's no hope, you go into liquidation, where the company's assets are sold to pay off Inland revenue, banks and various other creditors.

  • ED209 #25 3 years ago

    To all the people talking about Timesplitters as an asset or a franchise -

    Huh?!

    It's an FPS, set anywhere at any time, made up with various generic people / monster types (Cowboys / Zombies / Monkeys etc).

    I think you'd have a hard time selling that on.
    That's like selling air ... to Vilos Cohaagen

  • el_pollo_diablo #26 3 years ago

    Makes me wish I had three hands.

  • thisisatempaccount #27 3 years ago

    Maybe Rare could do their old pals a favour and buy the TimeSplitters IP. Do a good enough job on it, and BAM! everyone loves Rare again. It's the return to form (in terms of popular perception) that the whole world has been waiting for. Meanwhile, they pass on a percentage of the sales revenue to FRD, the company recovers enough to regain solvency, and rehire all their staff.

    All impossible, of course, but it makes for a pleasant daydream.

  • BonzoBanana #28 3 years ago

    I don't think ED209s grasped the fact that a franchise like Timesplitters is about the name. People know the name and probably know Timesplitters games they have enjoyed in the past and so it builds a momentum/possibility in people's minds to buy the new Timesplitter game because they enjoyed a previous Timesplitter game. Just like movie sequels make money even crap sequels. You have to work so much harder to sell something new. Timesplitters 4 would have had a existing level of demand even if poor. If Timesplitters 4 had been great it would have sold but even if it was mediocre it still had a good chance of profitability although this would have damaged the reputation for the next game after.

    I'm sadly unemployed myself now. Whats worse I was in car part manufacturing which is truly dead at the moment. So as you can imagine I can truly relate to how the free radical staff are feeling. Whats frightening is how many people are losing their jobs so quickly. Finance, retail, manufacturing and even games development. Its a worrying situation.
    Edited by 1 at 22/12/08 @ 16:25

  • daku #29 3 years ago

    That's some definition of 'usual'.

  • Tetsuo_Shima #30 3 years ago

    Timesplitters 2 , ahhhh, why did I give you away so thoughtlessly?!?! I had all the characters unlocked except two, I think; I couldn't get gold in the Wild West monkey/skeet shooting nor the monkey dambusters challenges.

    It's a damn shame the studio had to close down, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that there will be a new Timesplitters in the future... ( or at least Sgt. Cortez tells me so)
    Edited by 1 at 23/12/08 @ 14:00

  • TitianWarrior #31 3 years ago

    The 1st level on TS2 is (I think) my favourite level on any FPS, but then again I love sniper rifles. Great shame about Free Radical, I wish them well.

  • espibara #32 3 years ago

    Lets face it I have NOOOOOO sympathy for free radical. I stumped up £40 for Haze and it wa s a pile of shite.

    Despite all the bullshit promo stuff before promising the world Haze was shite.

  • freewilly #33 3 years ago

    damn this sux. i just dont like smaller companies biting the dust. the current state of the game industry scares me a bit. ea = m$