Free Radical Closure Confirmed as Embracer Shuts Studio Ahead of Christmas | Push Square

In unsurprising news, publisher Square Enix has announced a bold new vision for the company in 2024, again promising to chase whatever the hottest speculative technology on the market happens to be. President Takashi Kiryu rang in the new year with a bold directive, confirming the firm will be «aggressive in applying AI and other cutting-edge technologies to both our content development and our publishing functions».

Chris and Jason Kingsley, founders of Rebellion Developments, the Oxford-based studio behind series like Sniper Elite and Zombie Army, have both been awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), included in the King's New Year Honours list for their services to the economy.

Developer Jukai Studio, the team behind the poorly received horror title Stray Souls, has announced its closure several months after releasing the game on PS5 and PS4. In a statement, the developer cites the surprise closure of publisher Versus Evil as a contributing factor, in addition to relentless cyber attacks, bullying, and disappointing sales.

It’s been an action-packed year, hasn’t it? From the Activision Blizzard courtroom drama through to the absolutely stacked release calendar from start-to-finish, this is our first real opportunity to reflect on 2023. Merry Christmas, by the way, we sincerely hope you and your entire family have a fun one. You’ll find us lingering near to the Selection Box.

Former employees of the recently closed Free Radical Design, an Embracer Group-owned British video game developer that was responsible for the iconic TimeSplitters first-person shooter (FPS) series, have been sharing concept art for an unannounced project.

Art work reportedly taken from Free Radical Design's unreleased TimeSplitters game has popped up online.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is one of the biggest games of the year, and we were big fans, even if it didn't stray enough from the established Insomniac formula for our taste. Still, it seems we weren't the only ones surprised to find that, despite being nominated in seven separate categories, Sony's latest PlayStation exclusive didn't bag a single statue at The Game Awards.

Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake 2 received widespread acclaim from fans and critics when it launched on 27th October, continuing the tale of the tortured, titular writer. The sequel to the cult-classic Alan Wake, buoyed by more than a decade of hype and developed by a Remedy with the momentum of a well-received Control behind it, you'd expect the game to sell like gangbusters, wouldn't you?

Bandai Namco is full steam ahead with Tekken 8 as the fighting game fast approaches launch day. The title is due for release on 26th January 2024, and up to now, most of its trailers have been focused on single characters. This new one, however, shows off the game's Story mode — and it's looking typically mad.

Fortnite's Festival is already set to corner the rhythm market by install base alone, introducing a Rock Band-like experience into Epic's ongoing everything game. In addition to LEGO Fortnite and Rocket Racing, it's clear that Epic's plans for total digital domination are close to coming to fruition.

The Day Before's rise to infamy has been swift. Promised for an eventual PS5 release, it was released last week into Steams Early Access in an atrocious state, and players were quick to note it only vaguely resembled the product promised. The developer announced its dissolution days later, effective immediately, before the studio's owners, brothers named Gotovtsev, dropped a digital smoke bomb and disappeared entirely.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is an unfortunate amalgamation of Norse words. However, the incoming free DLC (out today, 12th December) looks like a delicious second helping for fans of Sony Santa Monica's most recent release. We learned that Valhalla would serve as an epilogue to Kratos's story, and now we have a trailer showing it in randomly generated action.