February 4, 2009 - Crytek officially confirmed its purchase of Free Radical Design today, following early reports that broke yesterday. According to the official press release, Free Radical "will now be integrated into Crytek's network."
"We're very excited about this step to expand Crytek into the UK with such an experienced and highly talented team," said Avni Yerli, Managing Director of Crytek. "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've got word into Crytek for further clarification on what this means.
Based in Nottingham, England, Free Radical recently lost a large portion of its workforce, though retained 40 employees. The studio is responsible for Timesplitters back in 2000 as well as the more recent PlayStation 3 exclusive Haze in May of 2008.
Crytek, operating primarily out of Germany, is the studio responsible for the original Far Cry back in 2004, and more recently Crysis in 2007 and Crysis Warhead in 2008, as well as its CryEngine and CryEngine 2 game engine technology.
Nothing at this point is known for sure what may happen with Free Radical or its IPs beyond what we've been told so far.
