Rumour: Free Radical Design shutting down

Well, shit. Gamesindustry.biz today reports that one of the gaming world’s finest development studios is shutting its doors. Rumour has it that when UK developer Free Radical’s employees showed up at the doors today, they were told to meet at a local hotel for a final meeting- the lack of response to calls seems to back this up, too. Oddly enough, a few weeks earlier the studio’s director Steve Ellis had said “we certainly won’t be laying off any staff today. Or, for that matter, any time in 2008.”

I sincerely hope that this rumour is false. Free Radical was formed from the Rare employees who developed GoldenEye for the N64, one of the best games of all time, and went on to develop the Timesplitters series- a consistently outstanding set of games. Free Radical were said to be developing Star Wars Battlefront 3 (another great series), too. Perhaps their only bad game was Haze; is this why they are supposedly shutting down? Graeme Norgate, David Doak- what will become of these industry greats? I don’t think I’ve ever felt this sort of despair over a company closing down.

[UPDATES]More stuff happened. See it after the jump.

[UPDATE] Gamezine have received word from an unnamed source that “the studio is not closing down. Yet, at least. What they are doing is major restructuring.” There’s hope yet!

[ANOTHER UPDATE] Now Kotaku are reporting on another unnamed source, this time saying that the company has shut down. We’ll make sure to report the final verdict when it is officially confirmed.

[MORE UPADTES]EDGE-Online‘s source has told them this:

Co-founder Ellis was “visibly upset” when he talked to the staff, the source said. “[He] told staff how very sorry he was and they’d been doing all they could, working flat-out to either find a publisher or a buyer over the past six months, but no offers were made. There have been several visits to the States, but to no avail.”

About 20 staff members were offered positions with Ellis’ new venture, Pumpkin Beach, while the rest of the employees were told in a separate room that they would be laid off.

Staff had reportedly been paid to the end of December, but are not expected to receive any further compensation “as there was nothing left to give.”

Reps from U.K. game makers Codemasters and Monumental Games were at the hotel after the meeting asking for CVs and applications from former Free Radical staffers.

Let’s just hope Pumpkin Beach continue Free Radical’s legacy.