StickyMicky

Bust, due to HAZE being a bit crap

Source: Free Radical Locked Up | Edge Online

RB5-Black

Lined up and shot for that turd wouldn't be too harsh

spectrum48k

Yes, that's the games industry for you - one bad game, and your company goes **** up.

Factor 5 are in the process of doing the same - to think they created some fantastic stuff - Rogue Squadron on the Gamecube, Turrican (16bit), etc... then they had a fu** up with Lair on the PS3.

madfiddler

It's such a dodgy industry - I've been in it for 16 years. I've left a company once, been made redundant 3 times.

Midway arn't looking good atm, and I predicted 2 years ago the EAUK would close down completely, and they're certainly going that way.

spectrum48k

Midway are down in my next of the woods in the North East - I drive past their offices most days. I've always wondered how they stay in business, given some of the dross they sell. I believe this studio is working on new franchise Wheelman at the moment. Probably nicked the dev team from Driver!

messiah

Hoping FR are going to be OK. Haze wasn't too bad I thought, but wished they gone and done TimeSplitters 4 instead (rumoured to be currently in development)

spectrum48k

Looks like Free Radical are gone. Nobody came in to save them as the last minute. Factor Five have now gone bump too (Rogue Squadron, Lair, Turrican)

Given how much money it can generate, it's never been an industry that's appealed to me - seemingly Dickensian working conditions, working "all hours" to get a product out the door, "crunch time", massive reliance on financiers, distribution channels nicking hefty profit margins, stifled creativity and reliance on guaranteed franchises like NBA09, JOHN MADDEN, etc...


I'm hoping Steam helps the developers getting a bigger chunk of profits, like they deserve. It'll also lessen the influence the "suits" have on the decision making process.

Microsoft have stolen a march on Sony, by making the Xbox360 much easier to develop for and encouraging bedroom coders to create titles for it. Just about every developer says the prefer to work on Xbox360 as they don't have to reinvnet the wheel like they do with each new Playstation

Really pleased to see Steam coming on so well. It's not going to happen overnight, but electronic distribution will hand so much more control back to the developer, lessening the reliance on publishers and distributors.

bob269

The problem was they tried to build the company up for a quick sell. Releasing second sight and Haze kinda ****ed this up, releasing mediocre games could work but not in the current climate. Lucas pulled out because of poor haze sales.

As Messiah said, they should of kept the company small and stuck to the tried and tested Timesplitters.

messiah

What I find astonishing is that Codemaster were in attendance taking CV's from "ex-staff", meaning that FR told it's competitors it was going under before it told it's own employee's.

Can't be long before someone snaps up the IP rights to TimeSplitters though.

madfiddler

It was probably the rumour mill. You often hear mutterings about what's going on in the industry before it happens.

I believe the Codies peeps were asked to leave by the administrators quite soon after arriving, since the adminstrators job is to try and find a buyer for the company as a whole. Still, I don't think anyone at FRD with their head screwed on correctly is going to hang around waiting.

spectrum48k

interesting snippet on Midway (in the process of dying)...

"While Midway collapses, the fabulous salaries of the executives who brought the company to its knees are coming under scrutiny. TGR has a great post up about the ridiculous compensation the higher-ups at Midway were receiving over the last couple of years -- right as hundreds of employees are set to lose their jobs.

Let's see here -- former CEO David F. Zucker made $4.5 million over the past two years. Current VP Martin Spiess made a little over a half million in 2007, which is about the same amount current CEO Matt Booty also made. TGR puts it in perspective: if the average industry salary is about $50k, Zucker's take over the last two years "could have paid for all 180 of those workers [who lost their jobs] to be employed at full pay for another six months." That logic and math might be a little fuzzy, but it's always disheartening to see the ineffective executives make out like bandits."

madfiddler

What about EA then. Announce 600 redundancies, share price drops, John Riccatello (the CEO) buys $1m worth. I think last week, 5 of the top execs bought a further million shares between them, at $16 a share... They were $52 6 months ago.