A very unhappy Christmas for Haze developer

Hexus reports on the sad news that Free Radical Design, the Nottingham-based developer of the Timesplitters series and the PS3 first-person shooter Haze, is facing an uncertain future after it went into administration over the Christmas period.

A sequel to Haze was widely predicted from the company, who also had a fourth installment of the Timesplitters series in development. All company projects has now been put on hold as the developer seeks a buyer in the New Year.

The company is now operating with just 40 employees with over 75% of its workforce given their marching orders. Free Radical Design's administration company, Resolve Partners, is calling for investors to come forward.

[Bob Dole]

Too bad, the first Timesplitters was the first game Bob Dole got for his PS2. Good times.

[RememberThe357]

I couldn't tell you how many weekends were lost to that game.

Timespliter was the first game I ever saw on a PS2. Oh the memories...

[Dark_Overlord]

Brought it the same day as my PS2, spent too many hours on the game. They could probably redo the graphics to next gen and it would still sell amazingly

[DaTruth]

This is what happens to good developers when fanboys and fanmagazines unduly $h!t all over a game.
Obviously it wasn't the best game but, it didn't deserve all that. Just like Lair, 1080p with 1000 enemies on the screen, it was a technical masterpiece and instead of pointing out the good in the game and the detractors(controls,targeting) , they just did a drive-by egging.

[GlibGamer]

If a game has poor controls and is a hassle to play, it's not a good game. If it looks good but plays like warmed over crap, it should be left as a tech demo. As much as I wanted to like Haze and Lair, I just couldn't get into them because playing them was a chore.

[DaTruth]

Exactly my point; You don't like them and you feel playing them is kind of a chore, that opinion is very reasonable. But, the visceral anger that these fanmagazines ripped into these games with was just plain uncalled for and fanboyish; There were many games worse than these. A review of Lair should mention that if you're a graphics whore, this is your game. And just for the record, I never bought Haze and I never finished Lair(it was kind of a chore to play).

[GlibGamer]

A very reasonable and well thought out position. Agreed.

[interrergator]

:( poor haze developer

[antt3]

Just letting you know: Bubbles for GlibGamer and Datruth for having an actual exchange of ideas. :-) Nice to see on a gaming forum.

[Jazz4108]

You could put a piece of sh!t on the screen and give you a stick to hit it with and if its on the PS3 then fanboys would claim GOTY.

[computer]

Thank goodness they let me play a demo so I wouldn't spend money on Haze. It felt completely boring to play, the graphics were mediocre at best compared to other games, and it just felt like it would've been a waste of money. But.. that's just my opinion. It's still a shame to have people laid off.

[JHUX]

You could put a piece of sh!t on a screen and a stick to hit it with, and as long as it is on the 360 then fanboys would buy it up, then claim it should be GOTY for how many sales it got.

[andron]

I would hate to see them go down for good....

[yoghurt]

Timesplitters was great, c'mon, somebody buy them, they are talented!

and I know haze got slated, but I liked it, ok it wasn't a 9/10 or anything but it was far better than the 4's it was getting. I for one would be interested in seeing a sequel

[GrandTheftZamboni]

I bought Haze for 15 bucks yesterday at EB Games. Even though I played the demo, I was kind of curious how bad it is. I played 1 hour into it and I find it quite fun. It's a shame that media, viral marketing, fanboys or whatever can influence the public to that extent. Who knows maybe the game gets crappy later on... Anyway they seem to know how to program for PS3.

[solideagle1]

was the best multiplayer game on the PS2 in my opinion. i have enjoyed it and i think it was the best graphical game in multiplayer wise.
thanks

[PotNoodle]

"A sequel to Haze was widely predicted from the company"

:|

[cow moolester]

Why was this approved? Could it not be said it's a duplicate considering they are just reporting what's already been posted here?

[Firestorm]

They made a PS3 exclusive game, what did they expect would happen?

The exact same thing happened with Factor 5.

Thanks Playstation, you have killed two great developers.

[beardtm]

I have to agree here, im positive they would have been more successful on 360, well Haze anyway, AND it would have actually been HD.

Still sad to see Free Radical go.

[yoghurt]

You really have no idea do you, i actually feel sorry for you if you think the poor performance of Haze was what killed Free Radical.

[Fishy Fingers]

LOL.. yeah and I blame Nvidia that Crysis didn't have a well scripted single player experience.

Oh wait, thats the developers fault, not the hardwares.... Free Radical should have made a better game, simple as that.

[ultimolu]

WHY DON'T WE BLAME THE PS3 FOR WORLD HUNGER WHILE WE'RE AT IT!

I don't see what Sony has to do with this when they didn't even develop/publish the game!

[aceman7]

Blame the Developers for making crappy games, Haze would have been crap too on 360.

[JohnnyMann420]

Ohhh wait...

Point being, what you just said was retarded.

The devs failed because the games sucked and they spent a lot of money making them.

[Dark_Overlord]

there was an interview with one of the workers at free radical who even stated that the PS3 had nothing to do with the companies present state

[Enigma_2099]

if they haven't stopped blaming Sony for things by now, do you really think it's gonna stop any time soon?

[thewhoopimen]

Free radical succeeded with the PS2.... so why would it be unnatural to make a game on the ps3 given their knowledge and background. Unfortunately Haze failed as an IP. It was buggy and extremely repetitve.

[UltimateIdiot911]

Then you too play a part in Free Radical and Factor 5 failure. You chose to buy the Xbox360 over the PS3 and abandon the studios who supports the PS3. Would that make you any more different?

I suppose MGS4 and WKC failed hard. Oh wait...that's right, they are selling well.

[liquidsnake]

The real idiots are all of the people who replied to Firestorm and beardtm. Why bother replying? I don't think they'll understand it anyways. :)

[PotNoodle]

Konami & kojima productions say hi?

MGS4 sold 3 million in 2 weeks, that is quicker than GoW2 took to get to 3m (Before you disagree, a quick google will back me up :)). Oh and i'm only comparing it to GoW2 because it is a big exclusive for the system you were implying they should of made the game on.

So what i'm saying is, the PS3 is more than capable of selling software.
Even if the latest big title for the PS3 didn't sell as expected, it still sold and is selling well.

[slak]

yeah I think if the game was on the 360 it would have done better but w/e there decision Thats wa u get

[Sevir04]

and from what i've read, for a game to break even they only need To sell 250k units, to recoup cost and to make a profit most games only need to sell 500k units. so you fail. Haze Sold quite well and made the company very profitable. when it was released. They just ran into to some hard ship. In anycase I Hope Sony Steps in and Buy them up. Free Rad would be nice under sony's umbrella, and they do favour Sony alot more than most other publishers

[LostCypher11]

I don't think he was Blaming the PS3, more just stating the fact that if the game was on the 360 it would have sold better. Us 360 gamers have a habit of buying even the worst of games. And this game was far from the worst

[kazan]

Learn to make good games that IS your job

[TheTwelve]

Yep...spend all that money and time to make a bad game and this is what happens in today's current economy and competition.

12

[vickers500]

Yeah, show 'em how it's done, kazan. Oh wait, you know nothing about making games? Hmm... maybe you shouldn't talk then, it's hypocritical.

[kazan]

Show them?? Ok ill reply to your limited way of thinking …I am not a developer and I have no idea and don't even care how games are developed.. HOWEVER am willing to PAY for their games if they deliver something worth it… think out of the box next time

[ph3lid]

oh nooo, please no Haze sequel. i really don't know why i played the 1st one.

even Too Human is 10x better than this mess.

PS3 needs good games (yeah i know, KZ2 looks hot but i don't think it will have the little EXTRA to make it outstanding (like Bioshock, Dead Space, FEAR or Condemned)

[pp]

Good i don't feel sorry they should not have made a ps3 game that's what you get at the end of the day working for Sony.

[digger18]

You really are nothing more than a asswipe. People lost their jobs and all you can do is scoff?

[thor]

Here was the fundamental problem with Haze; putting any development issues aside, they were trying to make a "serious" game when they usually make games rich with comedy and lacking in believable atmosphere. Was Timesplitters believable? No. The humour was what carried it and gave it its charm. They put whatever weapons they felt like putting in to make the game fun. They put levels in wacky locations just for the hell of it. They made characters who were all different, varied, and mostly freaks. People didn't know whether Haze was meant to be comedic or serious.

BTW I do think that Resistance 2 suffered from this problem a little bit as well. Though maybe it's just because I loathe the idea of something being "badass".

[S M N]

i wished if they made Timesplitters 4 before haze , thing will differently would changed 4 them

TS 3 one of my fav multi player game, the gameplay was just addictive and fun

by the, was haze that bad ? or it's just didn't sell that much ?

[Hiruma Youchi]

yeah , I was asking myself the same thing. I never played haze but I heard a few of my friends who have a ps3 say the game is wack. I dont know why I get this feeling but I feel like people are tend to say the game is wack because of Online Reviews and bashing.

[S M N]

i know what u mean, best example...the ps3 it self -_-

i think i will download the demo to try it my self, who know may be i will like it

[spandexxking]

personally i thought the was a solid 7/10. it didnt deserve the 2's and 3's it got

[yoghurt]

I agree it wasn't fantastic, but, it was worth a play through, the nectar experience added a different element to it. When the reviews started coming out I was tempted to not buy, but, glad I did. It was fun.

And i'm not saying its not their fault, of course its free radicals fault Haze wasn't the best but I'm pretty sure the low performance of one game didn't kill them off, surely a company doesn't put all their eggs in one basket like that

[JohnnyMann420]

...that Haze is worth a playthrough.

Purchasing this game would be 60 bucks down the toilet...and rentals don't really help the Dev.

[JohnnyMann420]

Timesplitters was the only game that this dev got right. Haze was crap.

I don't wish bad things on companies, but at the same time I would have to be dumb not to see this one coming.

[Dread]

this is too bad.

and to whomever is saying that this is the playstation3 fault that is ridiculous.

if freeradical was stuggling finacially they should not have made playstation 3 exclusives. It they wanted more money they should have gone multiplat.

so it is their fault.

[PS360PCROCKS]

a haze sequel? They're going under for money purposes and they wanna make a sequel to that generic game? Yeah they're going nowhere fast if that's what they do.

[BrotherNick]

There are going to be a couple losers. Especially with everybody cutting back on purchases. :(

[karlostomy]

In future, developers will no doubt seek to maximise profits by investing their time and effort in the dominant software-selling platform (360), or by releasing planned exclusive games on multiplat.

No developer can afford to invest extra development time into a platform that requires more work but sells less copies.

No wonder 'Free-radical-design' is up for sale.

I just feel sorry for the guys and gals that lost their jobs in the name of ps3 exclusivity.

[Mc187]

Blame it all on PS3 exclusivity?
Why don't you blame the world's current econnomic crysis on the PS3 too.........
Oh wait you did.

On topic I really don't understand how FR developed this game sat back and thought wow these graphics are great and to Rob Yescombe the story was sh!t. This game would've failed on any console. They should've spent more time brainstorming at work instead of their local pub.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Starving artist

[Bob Dole]

Developers make more money selling games on the PS3 because of piracy on the 360. You can't pirate PS3 games profitably, where as on the 360 a stack of DVD's is CHeeeaP!

[GrandTheftZamboni]

I thought Wii sells more software than Xbox.

[Dante43]

It really their own fault for making such a crappy game.

[TheMART]

Make a PS3 game, go bankrupt.

If Media Molecule had made LittleBigPlanet for the 360, it would have sold 3 times as much as it has sold now for the PS3.

[Mc187]

Only cause you would've bought three copies.
J/k mart you're hilarious

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Why would he have bought three copies?

[Lonely Hunter]

1 to play 2 for backup when his 360 scratch the disk

[Magic_The_Celt]

^ LMFAO @lonely

seriously haha

oh and @Jason 360 i think MART said something about buying 3 copies of LBP or some random sh*t

and MART, the fact that we all know Mm will never go bankrupt disproves your whole point

oh yeah i guess konami is going to go bankrupt too xD ahh you guys make it too easy

[Mc187]

Because I'm a jerk and thought teasing The Mart would be funny..... BTW how's your buddy Karlostomy doing?

[ph3lid]

yeah, no doubt about it!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

First of all... huh? Second that makes 2, so why does he need 3 again? Go to comeback school and take a class, you lack skillz.

[Stereojet]

Trash dev team.

You can only get away with making trash for so long I guess.

/law of the jungle

[Leio]

Oh com´on people who bought that crappy game weren't happy either :<

[LevDog]

Dont make a crappy game then.. In todays market and the way the economy is.. PEOPLE are gonna buy GOOD games only.. Even though it shouldnt matter.. People are gonna lean on Reviewers more now then ever.. People will wont to spend their money on something that MITE SUCK.. SO they will check reviews and watch videos..

As a developer you better make the most of the money given to you and make a great game.. If you dont have a huge budget.. Make a Awesome PSN or XBL game..

Making a crap game is gonna waste everyones time.. Then you will prolly get fired..

[spandexxking]

oh the irony! i thought its was only ps3 fanboys that post crap in other platform articles. but here we have 3 of the finest bots spewing lies. no this isnt damage control, haze wasnt the best game, but your just lying by saying that sh1t

[iceice123]

They aint lyin son, best watch yourself before they drop you like skittles, yuz herd?

Haze was a terrible terrible game, get over it already.

[ultimolu]

So was 'Too Human' Icewake.

[thereapersson]

But SK hasn't gone bankrupt yet, because there's a large attach rate on the 360. Even sh1tty games sell...

[kewlkat007]

HAZE would of sold at least 1 million on the 360 because of the healthier install-base and the consoles knack for shooter fans.(some will disagree)

I tried HAZE the game wasn't as bad as they make it sound.(some will disagree)

Def not the worst shooter I have touched. Looking at it, PS3's user-base was low, it's not known to push shooters, and the steep learning curve was all at fault here, as well as the game was a new IP that was is unproven) and was aiming to do something very ambitious.

All I know is, Free Radical is no Rookie to the shooters Genre. All the blame placed on just one game is ludacris.

[zapata2119]

i don't care what anyone says, despite the annoying voice acting, i enjoyed playing haze and i hope sony does go ahead and buys them you never know haze2 might be a hell of a lot better then

[skagrerrrr]

bites the dust...

[Jazz4108]

I think Sony has more things to worry about then buying a bankrupt dev.

[Jacobite]

I thought Haze was alright 7/10 anyway,I had fun playing with it and with my son on co-op.Just some folk expected to much from this fps rightly so or not,but it had tough compition on the 360 even PS3 not adding the PC,but then some folk overhyped the Game before it was anywhere out,with Halo Killer and then some of the eary previews from some Mags saying that the Multiplayer will rival some of the top online games mmmmm .Good God poor Radical, had no chance with Haze with PS3 fps user base, anti sony press whipping them for sonys bad judgements and recession round the corner.R.I.P Haze it was a Brave try all the same.

[Meryl]

Actually i found the gameplay very good, and loved it when i was shooting as a mantel trooper, i just found the acting so damm irritating now if i could mute them dumb acts when the take their medicine then i could quite easily bare this game, shooting wise it was great, story wise, help me i'm going maaaad...

[OGharryjoysticks]

I would have checked it out.

[rTR-Pioneer]

that's what happens in all organisations, if you don't perform you will lose your job

[fossilfern]

shame to see :( if they do get bought lets hope that if they are making Haze 2 that it doenst turn out like that sh*t the first haze was

[anubis12]

sucks people everywhere are getting booted left and right. stupid economy

[SprayandPreycom]

whos controller has bumbers instead of triggers..

did the ps3 ruin haze

fact is ps3 owners ruined haze by not buying it ...

so nothing to complain about, another game that dosent sell well, why because the people who own the system arent buying it 360 owners have nothing to do with this one its sort of a microcosm of the whole ps3 story unfolding right before your eyes another supposedly halo killer great game that didnt sell its the same ol story over and over..

[madpuppy]

Haze was a lame game. I don't just buy every game that comes down the pike because I liked what the developer created previously. A bad game is a bad game, It is no ones fault except the shortsightedness of the developer that lost it's way.
And even if this game was multi-platform it would still have sold poorly unless you are saying that 360 owners have low standards? which I wholeheartedly disagree. A gamer is a gamer.

[madpuppy]

Haze was a dismal disappointment. Radical really pushed how great it was going to be. releasing developer videos and the head of Radical saying Haze makes some compelling Political statements about our future. they really poured it on. and what did we get? a lackluster FPS with over the top tired macho dialog, characters you didn't care about and poor visuals and gameplay.

The real shame is that they can make good stuff if they really want to. Look at Timesplitters, that game was great! It was Radical's swan song Like Looking glass studios System shock 2 or Ion Storms Deus Ex. A game that is revered and held up as a gold standard that other developers aspire to.
I hope that they get picked up by someone, It would be a real shame if a next gen Timesplitters never sees the light of day.

[tudors]

only on PS3, they hyped the game way too much, they set there self up for a fall.

[tudors]

good point, we are in a recession after all.

[Keowrath]

Best of luck to (what's left) of the Devs for 09 and the future. Being one person that was looking forward to Haze and being very disappointed to the extent I barely survived the demo (me, not my avatar on screen!) I do wish and agree with some people here they had avoided Haze and gone straight to TS4.

I wish you guys all the best, hope someone allows you to return to glory with a new TS... If they do, DON'T SCREW IT UP! =p