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Report: TimeSplitters maker Free Radical faces closure by Embracer

Report: TimeSplitters maker Free Radical faces closure by Embracer

The reformed Free Radical Design could be closed by its parent company Embracer Group.

As reported by VGC, studio staff are currently in consultation with a number of employees publishing posts on LinkedIn saying that they are looking for work. Workers at Free Radical have been told that the studio closure is on the table.

Free Radical was reformed in 2021 and was working on a new entry in its TimeSplitters series of shooters. That follows the original Free Radical – founded in 1999 – being closed in 2008 after the failure of Haze and a Star Wars: Battlefront project falling through.

The remains of the studio were acquired by Germany's Crytek and became Crytek UK, before that developer was bought by Deep Silver to become Dambuster Studios, which made Dead Island 2 and Homefront: The Revolution.

PCGamesInsider.biz has reached out to Plaion for comment.

News of Free Radical's possible closure comes amid a restructuring by Embracer Group after a $2 billion deal that the company was relying on to pay off existing costs it had incurred. So far, there have been job cuts at a number of its subsidiaries and a few outright closures, such as Saints Row maker Volition.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.