Free Radical Design
Encyclopedia
Crytek UK, formerly known as Free Radical Design, is a video game developer
based in Nottingham
, United Kingdom
, probably best known for Second Sight
and the TimeSplitters
series. After going into financial administration, it was announced on February 4 2009 that the studio had been acquired by German video game developer Crytek
and would be renamed Crytek UK. Crytek UK has 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
.
, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton, Graeme Norgate
and Lee Ray) worked on the Nintendo 64
first-person shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark
. 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 TimeSplitters
for the PlayStation 2
in 2000. It was known for its very fast paced gameplay and its particular emphasis on multiplayer 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
became the highest-ranked first-person shooter
on the PlayStation 2
.
On December 18, 2008, it was reported that the studio had shut down, though it was later confirmed that the company had gone into administration, leaving 40 of the original 185 staff still employed. On February 3, 2009, Haze
scriptwriter Rob Yescombe announced that Free Radical Design had been purchased by German games developer Crytek
which was then confirmed by Crytek themselves the following day. In 2010, Crytek UK moved from Sandiacre to brand new offices in the new central Nottingham Southreef development. The £50 million pound investment will allow Crytek UK to "grow over the next few months".
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
based in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, probably best known for Second Sight
Second Sight (video game)
Second Sight is an action-adventure video game developed by Free Radical Design and published by Codemasters for Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows. It was released on September 21, 2004...
and the TimeSplitters
TimeSplitters (series)
TimeSplitters is a series of first-person shooter video games created by Free Radical Design. The games are often compared to Rare's shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark since Free Radical Design was founded by a group of ex-Rare employees who developed these games...
series. After going into financial administration, it was announced on February 4 2009 that the studio had been acquired by German video game developer Crytek
Crytek
Crytek is a German video game company founded in 1999 by three Turkish brothers: Cevat, Avni and Faruk Yerli. Crytek's main headquarters are in Frankfurt, Germany, with five other studios in Kiev, Budapest, Nottingham, Sofia and Seoul. The company is best known for developing the game Far Cry and...
and would be renamed Crytek UK. Crytek UK has a good relationship with the city of Nottingham due in part to its sponsorship of the Gamecity
Gamecity
GameCity is an independent, annual videogame festival in Nottingham, England. The festival is aimed at the general public, and many events allow members of the public to participate freely. The festival receives little funding from the commercial video game industry, and is concerned instead with...
festival and its recruitment drives with Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University is a public teaching and research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as a new university in 1992 from the existing Trent Polytechnic , however it can trace its roots back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design...
.
History
Initially, most of Free Radical Design's employees previously worked for the game developer Rare. While at Rare, they (David DoakDavid Doak
David Doak is a Northern Irish video game designer. Originally from Belfast, he later moved to England, where he studied at Oxford University on biochemistry specialty and worked as a research scientist...
, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton, Graeme Norgate
Graeme Norgate
Graeme Norgate is an English video game music composer, who has composed music for a variety of video games developed by Rare. His first project at Rare was writing the music for the Game Boy game, Donkey Kong Land. He also contributed to the soundtracks of Blast Corps and GoldenEye 007...
and Lee Ray) worked on the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
first-person shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter video game developed by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It is considered the spiritual successor to Rare's earlier first-person shooter GoldenEye 007, with which it shares many gameplay features...
. 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 TimeSplitters
TimeSplitters
TimeSplitters is a series of first-person shooter video games created by Free Radical Design. The games are often compared to Rare's shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark since Free Radical Design was founded by a group of ex-Rare employees who developed these games...
for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
in 2000. It was known for its very fast paced gameplay and its particular emphasis on multiplayer 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
TimeSplitters 2 is a first-person shooter video game available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube game consoles. The game was published by Eidos and developed by Free Radical Design. The game was first released in October 2002 in North America and Europe, and later in Japan...
became the highest-ranked first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
on the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
.
On December 18, 2008, it was reported that the studio had shut down, though it was later confirmed that the company had gone into administration, leaving 40 of the original 185 staff still employed. On February 3, 2009, Haze
Haze (video game)
Haze is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Free Radical Design and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3. It was released worldwide in May 2008. A demo for Haze was released on the PlayStation Network on May 6, 2008...
scriptwriter Rob Yescombe announced that Free Radical Design had been purchased by German games developer Crytek
Crytek
Crytek is a German video game company founded in 1999 by three Turkish brothers: Cevat, Avni and Faruk Yerli. Crytek's main headquarters are in Frankfurt, Germany, with five other studios in Kiev, Budapest, Nottingham, Sofia and Seoul. The company is best known for developing the game Far Cry and...
which was then confirmed by Crytek themselves the following day. In 2010, Crytek UK moved from Sandiacre to brand new offices in the new central Nottingham Southreef development. The £50 million pound investment will allow Crytek UK to "grow over the next few months".
Released
- TimeSplittersTimeSplittersTimeSplitters is a series of first-person shooter video games created by Free Radical Design. The games are often compared to Rare's shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark since Free Radical Design was founded by a group of ex-Rare employees who developed these games...
(2000) for PlayStation 2PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan... - TimeSplitters 2TimeSplitters 2TimeSplitters 2 is a first-person shooter video game available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube game consoles. The game was published by Eidos and developed by Free Radical Design. The game was first released in October 2002 in North America and Europe, and later in Japan...
(2002) for PlayStation 2, GameCubeNintendo GameCubeThe , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
, and XboxXboxThe Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console... - Second SightSecond Sight (video game)Second Sight is an action-adventure video game developed by Free Radical Design and published by Codemasters for Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows. It was released on September 21, 2004...
(2004) for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... - TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (2005) for PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox
- HazeHaze (video game)Haze is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Free Radical Design and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3. It was released worldwide in May 2008. A demo for Haze was released on the PlayStation Network on May 6, 2008...
(2008) for PlayStation 3PlayStation 3The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... - Crysis 2Crysis 2Crysis 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek, published by Electronic Arts and released in North America, Australia, and Europe in March 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360...
(Multiplayer design) (2011) for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, and Windows
External links
- Official site of Crytek: archive of the official Free Radical Design website