bit-tech.net

Crytek buys Free Radical

Published on 4th February 2009 by Joe Martin

Crytek has announced it's now bought up Timesplitters developer, Free Radical Design.

Things have gone a bit pear-shaped lately for the Nottingham-based developer of Timesplitters and Haze, Free Radical Design - but according to game scriptwriter and one-time bit-tech.net columnist Rob Yescombe, the company may finally be out of the woods after being bought by Crytek.

Speaking to 1-UP.com the Haze writer confirmed that Crytek had bought the company for an undisclosed amount.

The news couldn't have come too soon either, with the UK developer having to shut up shop in December and staff turning up to work to find the offices locked one morning.

What made the news all the more shocking was that not only did the closure of Free Radical Design see a confirmation of the rumours that the company was working on Star Wars Battlefront III, but that a fourth Timeplitters game was also in the works.

While Yescombe hasn't given on any details on what this buy might mean for the company and whether we'll see Free Radical's irreverent humour start to work itself into the Crysis games or not, we're sure that an announcement is forthcoming. One thing we do know for sure though is that Lucasarts has reclaimed the Star Wars Battlefront III license and that Free Radical is now longer working on the title.

Whether Timesplitters 4 or Haze 2 are on the cards though still remain to be seen - would you buy either? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

23 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Brooxy 4th February 2009, 13:07

This is good news - hopefully Timesplitters 4 will be completed, and then I don't have to find the controllers for the Xbox for drunken shooting fests on Training Ground (Timesplitters doesn't like the 360)

liratheal 4th February 2009, 13:14

Bye bye, Time Splitters.

It was nice knowing you when you were fun.

p3n 4th February 2009, 13:16

Strange since Haze was very similar to crysis!

The Jambo 4th February 2009, 14:25

Are they just buying companies where the main character has an awesome suit?

Seriously, Crysis, Haze, Timesplitters....

Yemerich 4th February 2009, 15:49

Haze, crysis are like duke nukem use to say:
"Your ass, your face... Whats the difference?"

Two ok games at most imo....

Vimesey 4th February 2009, 16:30

If timesplitters remain the stupid fun it was with the silly amount of characters (go gingerbread man!) then that'd be a definate buy for me. If Crytek were to make it more serious i'd cry, if they cancelled it all together i'd cry. I'm so manly

will. 4th February 2009, 17:01

Crytek would have been better off buying a company with a reputation for good story and involving characters with terribly buggy graphics than just another bland shooter company.

wuyanxu 4th February 2009, 17:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by will.
Crytek would have been better off buying a company with a reputation for good story and involving characters with terribly buggy graphics than just another bland shooter company.

agree, Crysis and Timesplitters are very similar, they need a little diversity in their ranks

hodgy100 4th February 2009, 17:40

Free radical are more than "just another bland shooter company" they made time splitters which was one of the best FPS's on the PS2 back in the day.

Honestly a company brings out 1 bad game and they are suddenly classed as "just another bland shooter company"

Imagine if crytek allowed Free radical to make TS4 using the crytek engine :P

Lepermessiah 4th February 2009, 17:56

Hmm, and I thought they were whining about sales and piracy, yet they are doing well enough as a PC only dev to buy out another dev.......

Lepermessiah 4th February 2009, 18:05

Crytek are a lot better the people give them credit for.......I'll leave it at that, they ahev more balls at least then your typical mainstream console developer.

flibblesan 4th February 2009, 20:38

I'm quite fond of Free Radical being a Time Splitters fan and a Nottingham guy. Hope Crytek support GameCity like Free Radical did.

spectre456 4th February 2009, 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuyanxu
Quote:
Originally Posted by will.
Crytek would have been better off buying a company with a reputation for good story and involving characters with terribly buggy graphics than just another bland shooter company.
agree, Crysis and Timesplitters are very similar, they need a little diversity in their ranks

are you sure you've played the two? because the differences seem pretty night and day to me.

Loot3r 4th February 2009, 22:33

if you say crysis is not a great game then sorry to say you never played the game or you pc sucks! Sure its not the best and the story is not that great, but take a look at what they have done visually and a pretty decent AI too......people always love talking about the bad! I for one can say there is allot more greatness than failure in the game! As for Crytek buying Free Radical, well we just going to have ti wait and see....!

will. 5th February 2009, 01:25

Crysis is a great game, no doubt, but the story sucks and their imaginations could do with a bit of a massage. If they were to mix cryteks technological prowess with someone who knows how to tell a story and a person to tell them that mutants sucked in their last game and that aliens are no better in their new one then they might be able to make a whole game rather than just a really pretty one.

themax 5th February 2009, 03:20

Since when did was Free Radical only serving up tired old shooters? Have some of you not played Timesplitters? Both of those games were so much fun. Especially the multiplayer. Timesplitters was the closest "Goldeneye" multiplayer experience I had the pleasure of partaking in. I hope Crytek gets Free Radical started ASAP on a new Timesplitters. Putting out Haze over a Timesplitters game was probably the biggest mistake Free Radical ever made.

SolidSnakeUS 5th February 2009, 17:56

Remember, even though they still kind of filched Haze for the PS3, they can still do a great job on projects they've done before, such as Timesplitters. Also remember, a lot of Free Radical was from Rare, and most of these people left Rare when MS bought the company out and then made Free Radical. So some of the better programmers of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark left Rare and formed Free Radical. I will never put these guys in the hole, especially after the fun online of Future Perfect.

SolidSnakeUS 5th February 2009, 18:04

More than likely because of that, I'm sure Crytek won't keep them down. More than likely, they will help them with their work, which would be cool. Just don't let Crytek optimize their games haha.

Elton 6th February 2009, 02:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolidSnakeUS
More than likely because of that, I'm sure Crytek won't keep them down. More than likely, they will help them with their work, which would be cool. Just don't let Crytek optimize their games haha.

Actually the CryEngine was pretty damned well optimized...

Look at all the things it can do..

Tell me one engine where it has

3D water and Volumetric Clouds, and not to mention a badass editor..

Back on topic, I'll never forget playing TS2 and trying to run away from that flaming monkey...:p

Project_Nightmare 6th February 2009, 03:45

Isn't free ratical the ones that are making the game "Prototype"? God I want that game so much

Horizon 6th February 2009, 10:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuyanxu
Quote:
Originally Posted by will.
Crytek would have been better off buying a company with a reputation for good story and involving characters with terribly buggy graphics than just another bland shooter company.
agree, Crysis and Timesplitters are very similar, they need a little diversity in their ranks

you ever play any of them, I ask b/c my BS meter smacked past 'full of' which was the max.

wuyanxu 6th February 2009, 10:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horizon
you ever play any of them, I ask b/c my BS meter smacked past 'full of' which was the max.

played a little Timesplitters, the gameplay is as fun as Crysis Warhead, but the story and dialogue sucks on both.

Lepermessiah 6th February 2009, 13:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolidSnakeUS
More than likely because of that, I'm sure Crytek won't keep them down. More than likely, they will help them with their work, which would be cool. Just don't let Crytek optimize their games haha.

Are u serious? I see this comment a lot, Crysis os one of the msot opitmized games i have ever seen, 1.5 years old still miles ahead graphically of any game out, and it is easily maxed on even mid range hardware now. Look at GTA 4, thats bad optimization.