Free Radical Design
 | |
| Company type | Video game developer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer and video games |
| Founded | 1999 (Free Radical Design) 2009 (Crytek UK) |
| Headquarters | Sandiacre, Greater Nottingham, England |
| Products | Video games |
| Owner | Crytek [1] |
Number of employees | 60+ |
| Parent | Crytek |
| Website | http://www.crytek.com/ |
Crytek UK, formerly known as Free Radical Design, is a video game developer based in Sandiacre, England, probably best known for their TimeSplitters video game series and being a first-person shooter developer.[2]
After going into financial administration, it was announced on February 4th 2009 that the studio had been acquired by German video game developer Crytek and would be renamed Crytek UK.[3]
History
Initially, most of Free Radical Design's employees previously worked for the game developer Rare. While at Rare, they (David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton, Graeme Norgate and Lee Ray) worked on the Nintendo 64 first-person shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect 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 being TimeSplitters for the PlayStation 2 in 2000.[2] TimeSplitters attracted attention at the time because of the former Rare employees' work on the critically acclaimed GoldenEye 007. Its sequel TimeSplitters 2 became the highest-ranked first-person shooter on the PlayStation 2.[4]
On December 18, 2008, it was reported that the studio had shut down,[5] though it was later confirmed that the company had gone into administration,[6] leaving 40 of the original 185 staff still employed.[7]
On February 3, 2009, Haze scriptwriter Rob Yescombe announced that Free Radical Design had been purchased by German games developer Crytek.[8], which was then confirmed by Crytek themselves the following day.[9]
Works
Released
- TimeSplitters (2000) for PlayStation 2
- TimeSplitters 2 (2002) for PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox
- Second Sight (2004) for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Windows
- TimeSplitters Future Perfect (2005) for PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox
- Haze (2008) for PlayStation 3
Cancelled games
References
- ^ http://kotaku.com/5145829/crytek-buys-free-radical
- ^ a b Hwang, Kaiser, "Free Radical: The Face That Launched A Thousand Games", PSM, pp. pp. 18 - 19
{{citation}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Text "June 2007" ignored (help) - ^ [tt_news=141&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=57a43f3118 crytek.com]
- ^ gamerankings.com
- ^ Graft, Kris (2008-12-18). "Source: Free Radical Locked Up". Edge-online.com. Edge. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
- ^ http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homenews/185-jobs-risk-games-company/article-558753-detail/article.html
- ^ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/admin-confirms-free-radical-demise
- ^ http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172598
- ^ [tt_news=141&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=57a43f3118 crytek.com]
- ^ News: TimeSplitters 4 - first details - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]