After a month of rumor and speculation, Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors has reportedly confirmed a potential Dec. 11 closure date for game developer Free Radical Design. According to Video Games Chronicle<\/a> on Nov. 28, the news was shared with employees via a private company email.<\/p>
The bombshell before Christmas follows six months of uncertainty<\/a> as Embracer attempted to carry out some form of major restructuring. It has since played a catalyst in the closure of Saints Row<\/em> developer Volition and the marketed sale of Borderlands <\/em>custodians Gearbox Software. Now, it’s the turn of Free Radical to face fate.<\/p>
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\u201cAs we move through the consultation process and face the potential closure of Free Radical Design on 11 December 2023, I want to express my gratitude for your commitment and the remarkable work you\u2019ve done and still keep doing,\u201d Wingefors wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis is a challenging time for all of us but especially for you, and our focus is to support you as much as we can during this transition.\u201d<\/p>
Over 900 Embracer Group employees have already lost their jobs during the company\u2019s second quarter. Those at Free Radical will be holding on to the slim sliver of hope offered by the non-committal wording of the address. Nevertheless, this has not stopped over half of the current workforce indicating they are looking for new horizons<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>
First came the canceled Star Wars: Battlefront III<\/em>, a third installment to the series pioneered by Pandemic Studios and LucasArts. As suggested by Free Radical co-founder Steve Ellis<\/a>, the project was extremely close to completion before the plug was pulled following a management change for the publisher. Soon after was the tragic tale of Haze<\/em>, a PlayStation 3 exclusive published by Ubisoft that was hyped up as a Halo <\/em>killer but found itself horrifically outmatched.\u00a0<\/p>
