Free Radical Design Ltd. is a British

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a larg ...

based in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. Founded by David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton and

Graeme Norgate Graeme Norgate is a British video game music composer who has composed music for a variety of video games developed by Rare. His first project at Rare was writing music for the Game Boy game, ''Donkey Kong Land''. He also contributed to the ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surroun ...

in April 1999, they are best known for their ''

TimeSplitters ''TimeSplitters'' is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by Free Radical Design. The games are often considered spiritual successors to '' GoldenEye 007'' and ''Perfect Dark'', due to overlapping elements in gameplay, design, ...

'' series of games. After going into financial administration, it was announced on 3 February 2009 that the studio had been acquired by German video game developer

Crytek Crytek GmbH is a German video game developer and software developer based in Frankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers in Coburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, Crytek also operates further studios in Kyiv, Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey. ...

and would be renamed Crytek UK. Crytek had a good relationship with the city of Nottingham due in part to its sponsorship of the Gamecity festival and its recruitment drives with

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as a new universities, new university in 1992, although its roots go back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Desi ...

. In 2014, the studio would close and a majority of the staff transferred to the newly formed

Dambuster Studios Deep Silver Dambuster Studios Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Nottingham, England. The studio was set up by Deep Silver on 30 July 2014 to take over the development of '' Homefront: The Revolution'' from Crytek UK, which was clos ...

. In May 2021, the original founders reformed the studio, led by Doak and Ellis, to create a new entry in the ''TimeSplitters'' series. The current studio incarnation operates under

Deep Silver Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion. Eugenio Vitale serves as the director of games development for Deep Silver. History Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first release to be '' Ana ...

History

Most of Free Radical Design's initial employees previously worked for the game developer Rare. While at Rare, they ( David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton,

, Lee Ray and James Cunliffe) worked on the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

first-person shooters First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the playe ...

'' GoldenEye 007'' and ''

Perfect Dark ''Perfect Dark'' is a first-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console in 2000. The first game of the '' Perfect Dark'' series, it follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research ...

''. 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 ''

'' for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. It was known for its very fast-paced gameplay and its particular emphasis on

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

rather than story. ''TimeSplitters'' attracted attention at the time because of the former Rare employees' work on the critically acclaimed ''GoldenEye 007''. Its sequel, ''

TimeSplitters 2 ''TimeSplitters 2'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Free Radical Design and published by Eidos Interactive for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube game consoles. It is the second game in the ''TimeSplitters'' series, and a sequel ...

'', became the highest-ranked

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

for PlayStation 2 on

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

. Free Radical Design was working on '' Star Wars: Battlefront III'' from 2006 to 2008, but it was cancelled by their publishing partner when it was supposedly "99 percent" complete. The cancellation of this title, and the poorly received release of ''

Haze Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon in which dust, smoke, and other dry particulates suspended in air obscure visibility and the clarity of the sky. The World Meteorological Organization manual of codes includes a classification ...

'', contributed to Free Radical Design going into bankruptcy. In late 2008, Free Radical Design was approached by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

to work on a ''GoldenEye 007'' remake. Although the studio rebuilt the Dam Level for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

, negotiations fell through, with the studio entering administration soon afterwards. The

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sa ...

would release on those consoles without FRD's involvement in 2011 as an

enhanced port A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software ...

of its original release on the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...

and Nintendo DS a year prior. On 18 December 2008, it was reported that the studio had shut down, though it was later confirmed that the company had gone bankrupt, leaving only 40 of the original 185 staff still employed. On 3 February 2009, ''

'' scriptwriter Rob Yescombe announced that Free Radical Design had been purchased by German game developer

. In 2010, the company moved from Sandiacre to brand-new offices in the new central Nottingham Southreef development. The £50 million investment will allow Crytek UK to "grow over the next few months".

Financial difficulties and closure

In June 2014, reports surfaced that Crytek had missed wage payments and withheld bonuses for the company's employees, and that as a result, a number of employees had filed

grievances A grievance () is a wrong or hardship suffered, real or supposed, which forms legitimate grounds of complaint. In the past, the word meant the infliction or cause of hardship. See also * Complaint system A complaint system (also known as a co ...

and refused to report to work, and at least 30 employees had left the company since 2011 alone due to a decreasing

morale Morale, also known as esprit de corps (), is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value ...

at the studio. After denying that there were issues, Crytek later admitted on 25 July 2014 that the company was in a "transitional phase" as it secured

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

for future projects, with a particular emphasis on online gaming. On 30 July 2014, Crytek announced that, due to an internal restructuring, it would sell the intellectual property of '' Homefront'' (the sequel for which, later restructured as the reboot '' Homefront: The Revolution'', was in development at Crytek UK at the time) to

Koch Media Plaion (formerly Koch Media) is a German-Austrian media company headquartered in Höfen, Tyrol, Austria, with an operating subsidiary based in Planegg, Germany. The company was founded in 1994 by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz. The compan ...

, parent company of video game publisher

, and lay off much of the company's staff. Crytek left it unclear whether the company had been shut down entirely, however all staff were transferred to the new

being established in Nottingham in accordance with British law, where they afterwards continued to work on ''Homefront: The Revolution''.

Reformation

In May 2021, Embracer Group announced during their 2020–2021 full-year report that Free Radical Design would be reformed as a subsidiary of

with the intent of bringing "the much-loved ''TimeSplitters'' IP back to life". Key original members of the original Free Radical Design are involved in the reformation including founders Steve Ellis and David Doak. Their studio is based in Nottingham.

Games developed

As Free Radical Design (1999–2008)

As Crytek UK (2009–2014)

As Free Radical Design (2021–present)

Cancelled games

* '' Star Wars: Battlefront III'' * '' TimeSplitters 4''

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Deep Silver Crytek Companies based in Nottingham British companies established in 1999 British companies disestablished in 2014 British companies established in 2021 Video game companies established in 1999 Video game companies disestablished in 2014 Video game companies established in 2021 Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies 1999 establishments in England 2014 disestablishments in England 2021 establishments in England British subsidiaries of foreign companies Re-established companies