Jamba Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 A blow for British games yes but I think that there's a lot to learn from this. I don't really think that the company has been very lucrative from the impressions that I have got. Their games ranged from pretty successful (TS1 and 2) to pretty mediocre (Haze) and all of their projects have always been very high budget. I don't see them getting a massive return on their work and it is a risky way of doing business. Also companies can go bust on bad management alone. I have been seeing this more and more from inside and it's very scary how easily stuff slides. Bad development organisation is rife in the industry and it takes companies down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choze Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Sad to see them go but I hope the people do fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViPeR Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 So it turns out they're in Administration and have been whittled down to a skeleton crew. Good news is TS4 is still going to continue then. I'm hoping the reason it didn't get picked up by publishers was that it was in its early stages, not because it looked shit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 If they're only bankrupt and not closed, we all need to rush out and buy 4 copies of Haze.....each of us. Whether or not we own a PS3 is a moot point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesley Posted December 19, 2008 Author Share Posted December 19, 2008 So it turns out they're in Administration and have been whittled down to a skeleton crew. Good news is TS4 is still going to continue then. I'm hoping the reason it didn't get picked up by publishers was that it was in its early stages, not because it looked shit... The problem is that Haze initially looked good, turned out not-so-good. (apparently). That with the LucasArts deal falling through would make anything with Free Radical's name on seem like an unwise choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choze Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Lucasarts were not worth getting involved with. They have been all talk no action so far. They seem tor rush games with potential too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mundi Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Lucasarts were not worth getting involved with. They have been all talk no action so far. They seem tor rush games with potential too. Yeah ever since they realized they can slap Star Wars on everything and it will sell like hot cakes they´ve been crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViPeR Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 The problem is that Haze initially looked good, turned out not-so-good. (apparently). That with the LucasArts deal falling through would make anything with Free Radical's name on seem like an unwise choice. Thing is I may have at least bought it if it were on 360. Just to judge for myself as Second Sight was apparently shit but I enjoyed it. I wonder how much money they got for keeping it exclusive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Second Sight was apparently shit. I'm fairly sure I only remember great reviews. It was a brilliant game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 I've only heard good things about Second Sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The fish Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Hang on...nobody wanted to publish TimeSplitters 4? WTF? You seem to be forgetting that, as with The Conduit, publishers think that no one wants shooters, and only awful party games. Not wanting to publish Timesplitters 4 is like refusing to accept a free massive bag of money. It's sheer stupidity. They should have just stuck TS2 and 3 onto XBLA. That would've solved their problems. That idea is slightly more awesome than, say, human rights... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 You seem to be forgetting that, as with The Conduit, publishers think that no one wants shooters, and only awful party games. Not wanting to publish Timesplitters 4 is like refusing to accept a free massive bag of money. It's sheer stupidity. That idea is slightly more awesome than, say, human rights... But...but isn't at it's heart TS a awful party game? I mean as a shooter it fails, and as a party game it's a shooter.....but with their powers combined. We get awesome on a disc. Pssh human rights are totally overrated anyways. The Soviet Union was doing great. Of course I gotta nitpick, TS2&3 wouldn't be on XBLA they'd be on XBLO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellfire Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 You seem to be forgetting that, as with The Conduit, publishers think that no one wants shooters, and only awful party games. Really? Cause the huge ammount of shooters always coming out kinda says otherwise. Not wanting to publish Timesplitters 4 is like refusing to accept a free massive bag of money. It's sheer stupidity. Is it really? Timesplitters 3 didn't sell for shit, Second Sight the same, Haze sucked and didn't sell well either. Competing with all the other highly publicized shooters/brands out there, I don't think it's a massive bag of money at all. But...but isn't at it's heart TS a awful party game? I mean as a shooter it fails, and as a party game it's a shooter.....but with their powers combined. We get awesome on a disc. You gave me a headache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 You gave me a headache. So....a job well done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellfire Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 So....a job well done? Totally. My IQ was also at the risk of dropping, so extra stars for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Totally. My IQ was also at the risk of dropping, so extra stars for that. Another check mark for today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zechs Merquise Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 It's the same with Factor 5 - it's the curse of the PS3 exclusives, Lair and Haze! Either way I think their games were underperforming in sales terms and although I loved TS2 and TS3 we really hadn't seen ANYTHING from TS4, in an industry with yearly updates of games like COD you can't expect to show nothing and carry on functioning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViPeR Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I hate this yearly update crap. It shouldn't be the end of developers just because they don't want to adhere to it. I preferred it when they took their time and produced quality titles. I think this whole situation brings up another argument of whether mainstream culture embracing gaming has been a benefit or hindrance? If you think about the 80's and 90's, the market was so small games HAD to be good to be successful. There was no real room for failure, cheap ports, add ons. Now the market is so insanely huge you can churn out shit after shit and even if only 20% buy it that's still enough. Just look at Ubisoft over the past few years. This is a developer that actually did have quality titles and ideas but has descended into crap, because they can. It's too much about making a game that can sell rather than a game that the developers truly want to make. In a bizarre way this recession may be a good thing. I think this year has shown that no game and no developer is safe from failure and in a time like this developers can't shrug it off so easily. Perhaps this will bring them back down to earth and the fear of crap sales will force them inject a little more soul and passion into the development again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zechs Merquise Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I hate this yearly update crap. It shouldn't be the end of developers just because they don't want to adhere to it. I preferred it when they took their time and produced quality titles. I think this whole situation brings up another argument of whether mainstream culture embracing gaming has been a benefit or hindrance? Well that wasn't exactly my point, what I was getting at was that if ACTIVISION can produce yearly COD updates and they're great then Free Radical had do more to compete, after all Future Perfect came out in March 2005, nearly 4 years ago, and we haven't seen anything of the sequel bar a bit of art! That's not good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_prOdigy Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Well that wasn't exactly my point, what I was getting at was that if ACTIVISION can produce yearly COD updates and they're great then Free Radical had do more to compete, after all Future Perfect came out in March 2005, nearly 4 years ago, and we haven't seen anything of the sequel bar a bit of art! That's not good enough. Activision are a mega-publisher with nigh-infinite resources, not to mention they constantly have two developers on the trot with the Call of Duty series. Besides, I don't think it was within Free Radical's vision to compete with games like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zechs Merquise Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Activision are a mega-publisher with nigh-infinite resources, not to mention they constantly have two developers on the trot with the Call of Duty series. Besides, I don't think it was within Free Radical's vision to compete with games like that. Maybe not - but not one screen in nearly 4 years? It's hardly gong to inspire investment and publishers to hand over cash is it? I loved the Timesplitters games, but Free Radical was a business and sadly they weren't able to keep up with the competition. Even if you take into account that Infinity Ward and Treyarch both take 2 years to complete a COD game, it's still been nearly twice that length of time and we haven't seen anything from TS4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamba Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Even if you take into account that Infinity Ward and Treyarch both take 2 years to complete a COD game, it's still been nearly twice that length of time and we haven't seen anything from TS4. Again cash sorts a lot of that. Both of those companies have VERY good relationship with their publisher and there's a lot of trust there. Treyarch also make more than 1 game at a time (spiderman which bought in a shit load of money) so they actually have some money. FR gambled pretty much their entire company on Haze, thinking about the level of HD in there. Combining these huge game budgets of early HD era games with the economic climate is going to see even more casualties I recon. Fuck knows how Atari are still around... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Of course it's been 4 years since FP, FR started work on Haze. If the whole of a company is working on Haze except for a few guys, you can't expect too much info on their other IPs. We did get 2 teasers to go along with the art work, and 1 poll. That poll alone is probably a good tell of peoples interest in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellfire Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Again cash sorts a lot of that. Both of those companies have VERY good relationship with their publisher and there's a lot of trust there. Treyarch also make more than 1 game at a time (spiderman which bought in a shit load of money) so they actually have some money. FR gambled pretty much their entire company on Haze, thinking about the level of HD in there. Combining these huge game budgets of early HD era games with the economic climate is going to see even more casualties I recon. Fuck knows how Atari are still around... Pretty much spot on. There must be lots of companies barely managing to stay alive because of their not very wise huge "investments" in lots of HD games, where they just went all out and spent loads of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Factor 5 has also closed their doors From Matt-IGN on the message boards over at IGN: Was hoping the rumors weren't true. Contacted Julian over at F5 to shed some light, but he didn't get back to me. Got an e-mail from an inside source tonight: "Hi Matt, How have you been? Haven't seen you guys since E3. I hope that you're doing well! [Edit] wanted me to contact you with some late breaking news. We just learned from inside sources that developer Factor 5 has officially closed their doors as of today. That's some pretty big news considering that those guys have been around for quite a while. It's definitely a real shame! I hope that this information is helpful to you. Take care, and please say hi to Bozon for me." Beh. Not sure what this does to Kid Icarus, either, but it sure doesn't sound good. I'll keep you posted. I'm still holding out some kind of hope there may yet be a light at the end of the tunnel. Matt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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