Finally, some better news for UK-based developer Free Radical, while Canadian developer Action Pants is also sitting a bit prettier.

After Free Radical (Time Splitters, Haze) went into administration late last year, and was put up for sale and forced to reduce its staff count by 140 people early this year, it’s been revealed that German developer, Crytek (Far Cry, Crysis), has acquired the now 40-employee strong Free Radical.

This would now be the fourth studio Crytek owns, with operations in the Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria, not counting their own Frankfurt headquarters.

Additionally in acquisition news, Ubisoft has acquired Action Pants, a 110-employee strong developer based out of Vancounver. With studios in Canada’s Montreal and Quebec provinces, Ubisoft has been eyeing Vancouver for some time, as executive director of worldwide production studios at Ubisoft, Christine Burgess-Quemard, says:

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Last year it was reported that Free Radical (Time Splitters, Haze) was in a state of administration, a process by which a third party attempts to sort out another company’s financials. While it was widely reported at the time that Free Radical was closing, no such decision had been made at the time.

Over the Christmas break, however, news broke that Free Radical would be reducing its staff by a whopping 140 members, leaving the company with an effective skeleton staff of 40 developers. Not only that, but the company is now officially up for sale with interested parties already showing curiosity over the potential of buying Free Radical. Resolve Partners’ Cameron Gunn said:

“We made around 140 employees redundant yesterday (December 23rd 2008), effective 31 December (the date up to which they had been paid). We’re still trading on with the remaining 40 or so employees, have advertised the business for sale and have received some strong interest.”

Hopefully everybody lands (or has already landed) on their feet.

After reports that Free Radical employees arrived at work one day, only to find the locks changed and security guards keeping them out of the office, rumours spread wildly that the company behind games such as Time Splitters, Second Sight and Haze, had shut down.

It’s now been revealed, however, that Free Radical have instead been placed in to administration, a process by which a third-party attempts to resolve their client’s debts. A member of Resolve Partners, an administration group in the UK, Cameron Gunn said:

“We will be spending the next three or four days assessing the financial position of the company but it’s business as usual, although we have asked that almost all of the employees apart from a skeleton crew remain at home.”

“All employees have been paid up until the end of December and we hope to make another announcement before Christmas or very soon thereafter, but we must stress at this stage that it’s business as usual.”

Of concern to Free Radical fans, however, is the fact that co-founder David Doak, as well as other key senior Free Radical members, have left the company to form a new development outfit, Pumpkin Beach. Another worrying sign of Free Radical’s health is the reported loss of the rights to develop the third Star Wars Battlefront game, with the project going to another UK developer, Rebellion. Uneasy times, to say the least.

Free Radical are asking gamers what platforms they want to play TimeSplitters 4 on.

The options on the developer’s website include PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC or ‘Make something different.’ You may remember rumours of a Wii version back in the day. So far the PS3 is leading with 36%, followed by the Xbox 360 with 25%, Wii with 32%, PC 5% and something different at 2%.

Free Radical announced TimeSplitters 4 back in October but other than knowing that the game satirizes other video games we don’t know that much about it. The game is said to feature “crazy characters, devastating weapons and heart pounding hot sweaty action” and promises to “take the first person shooter to gaming nirvana.”

So, what are you waiting for? Go and vote!

Free Radical creative director David Doak has admitted that he would like to see TimeSplitters 4 on the Wii.

In an interview with Game Informer when asked whether he was thinking about putting TimeSplitters on the Wii as an FPS as well, Doak commented “I think it’s a good thing to do and I think we want to put it on the Wii.”

Looking after the family jewel

Dokes went on to confirm that TimeSplitters 4 is in development but not at a stage that would look like development to others. The features have yet to be decided but the concept art is quite developed. A publisher has yet to be chosen but according to Dokes, “it’s undecided at the moment. But it’s our family jewel, so we’re going to be careful with it.” He also confirmed that he was keen to feature game parodies in the latest installment of this successful franchise.

Although Doaks believes that the TimeSplitters game play can be adapted to the motion controls made possible by the Wii Remote, he warns against what he calls “the over ambition in its use.” Gestures should not be too ambiguous or noisy and features should not cause you pain. He believes that “It’s better to make a game that’s enjoyable to play than a game that’s got features that don’t work.”

In passing…

Nintendo fans will be delighted to note that Doaks also commented on a remake of Free Radical’s Second Sight. “Also, if you want to start a petition for remaking Second Sight on the Wii, I’d like to see that as well, because I think that game worked really well, [laughs] because of the manipulation stuff!” It remains to be seen whether Free Radical will continue their support of Nintendo consoles which could well mean that this is a grounded hint.