Unfortunately, the rough year of 2023 for the games industry continues. Indie Publisher Versus Evil announced on Twitter today that parent company TinyBuild has shut down the company and laid off all the staff. Head of Production Lance James confirmed the closure on Twitter as well.
Free Radical Design has been shut down
12.12.2023 - 16:53 / thesixthaxis.com / Randy Pitchford
Back in 2021, Free Radical Design was brought back from the dead to work on a new Timesplitters game. Today, the industry has been hit with more layoffs as news trickles out that Free Radical Design has been shut down by parent company Embracer. This follows a string of studio shut downs by Embracer following a $2bn deal falling through. That includes the closure of Saints Row developer Volition.
As you can see above, Free Radical Design’s website has essentially been purged of all content. The careers and contact links no longer work, and a message with “404 Company Not Found” is what greets visitors on the homepage. The closure of the studio means 80 people have lost their jobs only a couple of weeks before Christmas. There had been rumours that the studio was next for closure, as Embracer looks to restructure its business.
This is not all the change that could be coming. As reported by Reuters, Embracer Group are considering all options for Gearbox including a sale, per three people familiar with the matter. Embracer has apparently already received interest from some third parties, and is reportedly working with Goldman Sachs and Aream & Co. to explore a sale. They do caution that these are not advanced talks and could still come to nothing. Embracer Group acquired Gearbox back in April 2021 for $1.3 billion. As part of the deal Gearbox founder and CEO Randy Pitchford continued to lead the new operating group and Gearbox employees became “significant” shareholders in Embracer as well.
Source: GI.biz
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