Confirmed: Free Radical in Dire Straits–But There is Hope on the Horizon

According to a report on GamesIndustry.biz, a spokesperson named Cameron Gunn from the company Resolve, who is dealing with the administrative end of Free Radica,l has admitted that 185 employees have been let go, but that they have been paid for the rest of December. While the company is indeed in serious trouble, it still has 40 remaining employees working on game concepts and are expected to keep their jobs into the beginning of next year. At this time though, Free Radical has yet to find a publisher for the game(s) they are working on.

Gunn stated that:

“The company was placed into administration yesterday afternoon [and] 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. 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.”

Meanwhile, Tiga CEO Richard Wilson has expressed his sadness over the situation and had this to say:

“On behalf of all Tiga members, I would like to say how sorry the whole industry is to hear of the fate of Free Radical Design. The studio has employed some very talented teams developing first class games over the years. Free Radical Design has also been a member of Tiga and a strong supporter of our trade association.

I would like to congratulate everyone at the studio for their past achievements and I wish everyone good fortune in finding a new job as quickly as possible. Free Radical Design’s demise highlights the difficult economic environment in which UK games developers do business.”

Using Free Radical as a sounding board for why the UK government needs to step up and support the videogame industry, he went on to state:

“The best outcome for the UK video games industry is an increase in the sector’s rate of growth and the return of the UK as the third largest developer of video games in the world. If we are to achieve these results then the Government must establish a more favorable tax environment and tackle the underlying skills shortages facing the industry.

A tax break for games production and a larger supply of skilled workers may not have saved Free Radical Design. Nonetheless, this policy approach would strengthen the UK video games sector. The Secretary of State for BERR must take action.”

Yet, according to some breaking news, there may just be hope yet for Free Radical.

According to a post over on Edge, Resolve’s Cameron Gunn has stated that there have been companies courting the ailing free Radical since the news broke yesterday:

“We are very confident that we will achieve a sale if we decide to market the business. It’s a testament to the employees and the regard of the company that a significant interest has already been shown.”

Gunn would not comment on which or how many companies might be interested, but, people from Realtime Worlds, Codemasters, Monumental and Eurocom are all close by and according to sources have stopped by to offer condolences. So hopefully, someone in the area will pick them up.