Crytek UK

Crytek UK

Type	Subsidiary of Crytek
Industry	Computer and video games
Founded	1999 (Free Radical Design) 2009 (Crytek UK)
Headquarters	Nottingham, England, UK
Products	Video games
Owner(s)	Crytek[1]
Employees	80
Parent	Crytek
Website	crytek.com

Crytek UK, formerly known as Free Radical Design, is a video game developer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, probably best known for Second Sight and the TimeSplitters series.^[2] After going into financial administration, it was announced on February 4 2009 that the studio had been acquired by German video game developer Crytek and would be renamed Crytek UK.^[3] Crytek UK has a good relationship with the city of Nottingham due in part to its sponsorship of the Gamecity festival and its recruitment drives with Nottingham Trent University.^[4]

History

The company's original logo (1998-2006)

The company's second logo (2006-2009)

Initially, most of Free Radical Design's employees previously worked for the game developer Rare. While at Rare, they (David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton, Graeme Norgate and Lee Ray) worked on the Nintendo 64 first-person shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. From late 1998 to early 1999 this team left Rare to form Free Radical Design, which was established in April 1999, their first release being TimeSplitters for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. It was known for its very fast paced gameplay and its particular emphasis on multiplayer rather than story.^[2] TimeSplitters attracted attention at the time because of the former Rare employees' work on the critically acclaimed GoldenEye 007. Its sequel TimeSplitters 2 became the highest-ranked first-person shooter on the PlayStation 2.^[5]

On December 18, 2008, it was reported that the studio had shut down,^[6] though it was later confirmed that the company had gone into administration,^[7] leaving 40 of the original 185 staff still employed.^[8] On February 3, 2009, Haze scriptwriter Rob Yescombe announced that Free Radical Design had been purchased by German games developer Crytek^[9] which was then confirmed by Crytek themselves the following day.^[3] In 2010, Crytek UK moved from Sandiacre to brand new offices in the new central Nottingham Southreef development. The £50 million pound investment will allow Crytek UK to "grow over the next few months".^[4][10]

Works

Released

• TimeSplitters (2000) for PlayStation 2
• TimeSplitters 2 (2002) for PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox
• Second Sight (2004) for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and Windows
• TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (2005) for PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox
• Haze (2008) for PlayStation 3
• Crysis 2 (Multiplayer design) (2011) for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows^[11]

In Development

• Homefront 2 ^[12]

Status Unknown

• TimeSplitters 4^[13]

Cancelled games

• Star Wars: Battlefront III ^[14][15]

References

1. ^ Michael McWhertor. "Crytek Buys Free Radical". Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/5145829/crytek-buys-free-radical. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Hwang, Kaiser (June 2007), "Free Radical: The Face That Launched A Thousand Games", PSM: 18–19 
3. ^ ^{a b} crytek.com
4. ^ ^{a b} Gaming firm Crytek to be first tenant at Nottingham's Southreef
5. ^ gamerankings.com^{[dead link]}
6. ^ Graft, Kris (2008-12-18). "Source: Free Radical Locked Up". Edge-online.com. Edge. http://www.next-gen.biz/features/source-free-radical-locked. Retrieved 2008-12-18. 
7. ^ "185 jobs at risk at computer games company". This is Nottingham. http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homenews/185-jobs-risk-games-company/article-558753-detail/article.html. 
8. ^ Robert Purchese. Admin confirms Free Radical demise "Admin confirms Free Radical demise". Eurogamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/admin-confirms-free-radical-demise Admin confirms Free Radical demise. 
9. ^ Emma Boyes. "Crytek Purchases Free Radical, Says Company Scriptwriter". 1up. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172598. 
10. ^ Crytek Contact Page
11. ^ Crytek UK named as Crysis 2 multiplayer devs
12. ^ Kietzmann, Ludwig (September 20, 2011). "Crytek developing Homefront sequel with THQ". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/20/homefront-2-developed-by-crytek/. Retrieved September 21, 2011. 
13. ^ News: TimeSplitters 4 - first details - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
14. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
15. ^ Michael Thomsen. "What Happened to Star Wars Battlefront III?". IGN. http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/946/946015p1.html. 

External links

• Official site of Crytek
• Free Radical Design, archived from the original on 23 February 2008, http://web.archive.org/web/20080223063759/http://www.frd.co.uk/ : archive of the official Free Radical Design website