Free Radical Design (FRD) will be shutting down operations by Christmas this year. Embracer Group announced just two years ago that it was reforming FRD as a subsidiary of Deep Silver to begin working on a new TimeSplitters project. Now, the closure of FRD seems to have been privately acknowledged in an internal email. While an official announcement is yet to be made, it’s expected to be well before Christmas this year.
Layoffs have been an unfortunate trend all through this year across the gaming industry, so this news has further dampened spirits in an otherwise brilliant year filled with amazing titles.
Free Radical Design Might Have Less Than a Fortnight Before Permanent Closure
VGC had initially reported about the studio being threatened with being shut down. Now an anonymous source, reportedly from Plaion, which is an Embracer division running FRD, confirmed the news in an internal email where the studio mentioned moving through a consultation process that could see “the potential closure of Free Radical Design on the 11th of December 2023.”
The email concluded by stating that FRD will continue to be supported by Plaion in the transition period. This transition period has been going on for the past six months at Embracer Group, which has already seen 900 employees laid off by the 30th of September this year and the cancellation of 15 games in the process.
Recently, the CEO of Embracer Group, Lars Wingefors, called the reconstruction a group-wide effort that was also aimed at “discontinuing several studios and reducing the number of projects in several other studios, with a focus on improving the projected return on investment within PC/Console.”
Back in August, Saints Row developer Volition Games, a subsidiary of Embracer Group-owned Koch Media, also announced an immediate closure following a decision made after Embracer evaluated strategic and operational goals. Fishlabs, a subsidiary of Embracer-owned Plaion, recently announced that close to 50 jobs were planned for a layoff.
Free Radical Design Will Be Remembered for Highly-Rated Titles Like the TimeSplitters Franchise and Second Sight
Formed in 1999, FRD has been defunct before too, when the studio went into financial administration back in 2009. It was later acquired by Crytek and renamed Crytek UK, only to face another restructuring process. By 2021, Deep Silver announced the reformation of Free Radical Design after parent company Koch Media, a firm that’s part of Embracer Group, announced it was working on a new TimeSplitters project.
The original TimeSplitters was released back in 2000 and was a PlayStation 2 exclusive, while TimeSplitters 2 was released two years later in 2002 for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox and still has excellent Metacritic ratings. The studio’s other title, Second Sight, is an action-adventure game that was published by Codemasters in 2004. The stealth-focused game also has a high rating on Metacritic from critics and fans alike.
Another Embracer Group subsidiary, Sable Interactive, has also been in the news ever since taking the project of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake from Aspyr. While there’s no concrete news of the project being under development, anonymous sources from Sable have reportedly mentioned that the title is indeed under work.
Embracer Group also owns Crystal Dynamics, the developers of some renowned franchises, including Legacy of Kain. Fans were recently surveyed by Crystal Dynamics, asking whether a remake or reboot would be welcomed. Following an overwhelming response in favor of a reboot, Crystal Dynamics has responded that fans’ opinions will be respected.
Embracer Group’s acquisition spree has been under scrutiny for a long time, and with the recent studio shutdowns and layoffs, it will be even more heavily criticized by gamers and critics alike. 2023 will be remembered for its excellent releases and a year-long round of layoffs across the gaming industry.
While acquisitions help studios, a reduction in layoffs and closures would help employees as well. With the year drawing to a close, there is hope among the gaming community to see better titles come out of studios and a lesser impact on subsidiaries and their employees.
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