Free Radical Pulls The Plug - UPDATED

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Free Radical Pulls The Plug - UPDATED


Free Radical [http://www.frd.co.uk], the independent U.K.-based studio known for its ads featuring cartoon renditions of co-founder David "Click On My Ponytail" Doak, is reported to have shut down operations.

CVG [http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/12/18/rumour-free-radical-shutting-up-shop/] story about the Free Radical Christmas party, which sounds like a rather rocky event itself; management of the pub at which the event was held wanted to do a credit check against the studio before things got going, and the affair was ultimately paid with cash. One unnamed source claimed that the atmosphere was hardly festive, describing it as "going down with a beer."

Free Radical staff is also reported to have gathered at a nearby hotel this morning after showing up for work to find the locks had been changed. "They changed the locks yesterday, and turned up today to find the place shut and locked up this morning," a source at the studio said. "They are all waiting to find out exactly whats going on and IF the company still exists in some way, or if this is the end of the line. Shitty thing to happen this close to Xmas, and Haze aside, to one of the best devs in England."

Free Radical's Star Wars: Battlefront 3 [http://timesplitters.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page] project a few months ago.

UPDATE: ThisIsNottingham [http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/12/18/confirmed-free-radical-is-in-administration/].

"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," Gunn continued. "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."

The site also revealed that co-founder Doak left the company [http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/12/18/doak-left-free-rad-a-month-ago-company-closed/] earlier this month, and is now in the process of starting a new development studio with Steve Ellis, called Pumpkin Beach.


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Satki

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Dec 29, 2007
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Nooooooo... hopefully someone else will pick up some of their devs to carry on working on timesplitters 3
 

Zeushbien

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May 23, 2008
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Haze wasn't without a couple of interesting ideas even if they failed in execution.. It really is too bad if this company is shutting down I for one would have loved to see what they could do with the timesplitters license on a next gen console..
 

Brokkr

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Nov 25, 2008
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That's kind of a shitty way to tell your employees that they are fired.
 

Anton P. Nym

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Sep 18, 2007
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However much I hated the "click my ponytail" ads, and however lukewarm I am to Haze, it's a damned shame to see Free Radical go under. Even without their proud history, and the regretable loss of it now, it's alarming that one dud title can sink a studio.

-- Steve
 

tinkyyy

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Nov 17, 2008
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That is a pretty shit way to go, so close to christmas as well...
And i loved everything they did, besides Haze, as I never actually played that.
 

Satki

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Dec 29, 2007
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baggyn said:
Satki said:
Nooooooo... hopefully someone else will pick up some of their devs to carry on working on timesplitters 3
really?

id hope they would continue work on timespliters 4 :p
Ooops, typo... TS4 obviously