Game studio behind TimeSplitters appears to be closing its doors

Game studio Free Radical is reportedly ceasing to exist. The developer’s website has recently been empty and several employees report on X that the company is closing its doors. There has been no official announcement yet.

The report is on the Free Radical website ‘Company Not Found’ on display and some employees have messages on X shared announcing both their farewell and departure from the studio. Free Radical was founded in 1999. The studio released the first TimeSplitters game for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. That game is a first-person shooter that focuses on time travel and is similar to games such as GoldenEye 07 and Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64.

In 2009 the studio was acquired by Crytek and the name was changed to Crytek UK. The studio was then working on games from the Crysis series. In 2014, Free Radical was closed due to an internal restructuring and in 2018 THQ Nordic bought the rights from TimeSplitters. That company is part of the Embracer Group. Free Radical was revived in 2021 by publisher Deep Silver. The development studio had to work on a new TimeSplitters game.

There were already some at the beginning of last month rumors going around that Embracer Group wanted to close Free Radical. The Swedish holding company has already laid off 900 employees this year, including 500 developers from subsidiaries. The gaming giant hopes to significantly reduce its debt. Embracer Group bought a lot of game studios a few years ago, including Crystal Dynamics. The company also closed the doors of Saints Row studio Volition and Studio Onoma this year. The latter developer worked on games such as Lara Croft Go and Hitman Go.