It seems that the collapse of the Savvy Games deal, which was linked to Saudi Arabia’s leadership, has left a huge scar on the Swedish-based conglomerate’s financial results.

Over the past 6 months, Embracer Group has embarked on a restructuring programme that has seen Volition (Saints Row, Agents of Mayhem) and Campfire Cabal finally close their doors, but we’ve also heard that the sale of several companies is being considered, including Gearbox of Borderlands fame, which could change hands in the near future. There have also been a number of redundancies.

VGC has reported that the re-launched Free Radical Design in Nottingham, UK, is also under threat of closure by Lars Wingefors as part of an evaluation (although the studio was re-launched two years ago), and now staff there have been told that they could soon be made redundant.

Under UK employment law, Plaion (under which Free Radical operates; the company was formerly known as Koch Media!) must give staff at least 30 days’ notice before making them redundant and must find ways of keeping them in their jobs in the meantime. So the studio can stay open and Embracer Group can decide to sell the team to someone else.

However, VGC has monitored LinkedIn and social media and found that at least 15 people may have been turned away in the last 24 hours for posting that they were looking for a job. These include a senior game designer, a senior artist, a senior technical artist, a game designer and the studio’s IT manager. But so far neither Free Radical Design, Plaion nor Embracer Group have made any statement…

The Swedish publishing giant is due to announce its results next week, so it will also have to comment on the impact of the restructuring. However, if Free Radical Design disappears again (it first went bankrupt in 2008 when the PS3 exclusive Haze was not a big hit and Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was cancelled), the TimeSplitters project could go under, and the studio is known for that and Second Sight.

It would be a shame to see them close their doors again.

Source: VGC