Free Radical's Rob Yescombe just confirmed to 1UP that the recently troubled developer has been bought for an undisclosed sum by Germany-based Crytek (best known for the games Far Cry and Crysis). This ends weeks of uncertainty about the future of the company, which many had guessed might be forced to shut its doors.
Speaking from his local pub, Yescombe told us, "After seven long weeks of uncertainty, I can confirm that Free Radical is now out of the woods. We've been bought by a really, really good company." He added, in what was possibly a first for the outspoken writer, "I'm so excited I'm lost for words." Then he found some and continued: "It's the smoothest deal we've ever done. It all went through quickly, efficiently, fantastically..."
Yescombe said that he was unsure what the deal would mean for those made redundant on New Year's Eve, but that he hoped the company could ramp back up to its former size. Asked about what the team will be working on -- and specifically if this means we will one day see TimeSplitters 4 -- he said, "We don't know yet. We'll find out over the coming weeks."
We've contacted Crytek for more details, and to confirm from their side.
Excellent news. Timesplitters 2 is probably my favourite shooter of all time. Seems this could be the way Crytek wants to get into console gaming and Timesplitters 4 with Crysis graphics would be... fucking awesome!
This could also be a way of porting Crysis to the PS3 with Free Radical's previous experience with the platform. Who knows?
