Free Radical Becomes "Crytek UK" News

Nottingham's Free Radical Design - the developers of the Timesplitters series, Haze, and Second Sight - will now officially be known as "Crytek UK" following the acquisition of the company by Crytek earlier in the week.

The German developer has acquired all the assets and business that had remained under the Free Radical banner after it went into administration at the end of last year, which will include all prior work on Timesplitters 4.

Whether or not Crytek will allow the newly anointed Crytek UK studio to continue work on Timesplitters 4 remains unclear, although it would seem wasteful to bin such a promising project from a much loved series.

The future of 140 staff members who were made redundant by Free Radical over Christmas also remains unclear, and we are currently awaiting news of whether or not their jobs will be reinstated.

Free Radical is currently operating under a skeleton staff of 43 employees whose jobs have been secured under the acquisition.

Avni Yerli, Managing Director of Crytek, said, "We're very excited about this step to expand Crytek into the UK with such an experienced and highly talented team. Free Radical Design is a great fit to Crytek and its culture, given that Free Radical has a proven track record on delivering high quality games. The combination of this team, the Crytek network and our CryEngine technology will be a foundation for outstanding gaming experiences and a magnet for the best talent in the UK."

We're licking our lips at the prospect of Timesplitters 4 being built using the CryEngine 2. The spoof humour that the series is famed for, framed to the backdrop of stunning foliage and dazzling water effects just seems too good to be true, although we'll have to wait and see if that does turn out to be the case.