Looks Like Radical Entertainment Shut Down

"We said you got one more shot at making a game thats not tentpole and if its not a hit you'll be working on CoD map packs."

Considering their best game (according to this here database) is Battle for Olympus for the NES I'm really not all that sad to see them go. Both Prototype games were also pretty awful past the initial 2-3 hours of fucking around with all the powers.

Man, that sucks.

@DFSVegas said:

@Jeffsekai said:

If you didn't want to shut down, then you shouldn't have made a bad video game!

Oh man! What a great idea! Make a good game, instead of a crappy game! It's almost too easy! What was Radical Entertainment thinking!??!?!?!

I know right! Are they stupid or something!? They should've just called me cause I know how to make great games! Naive developers when will they learn!?!?

i understand why go into risky non fps games that cost more money when they can just slap some new shaders on CoD and ad some new weapons/gadgets and key chain like stuff with a couple new levels sell twice as much of it at least for 60 bucks a pop.

i would have dropped radical ent. too in this gamer's economy. i think this will be happening a lot more sadly if you don't have a game with a name that will sell like Halo, ME, CoD, BF ect. it will be ruff days for you good people breaking out of the norm.

Best of wishes to the crew and radical.

That's a bummer.

Sad to see these guys go... but I can't help but wonder what will happen to the PC version of Prototype 2 now.

Fuck, man that's disappointing. I really loved Simpsons, Hulk and both Prototypes. They made some great games that I truly enjoyed. Pouring one out.

@AndrewB said:

The continuing story of what happens when good talent is forced to work on the wrong game.

This

That is unfortunate, I really enjoyed the both Prototype games (not the narrative, but the mechanics were pretty good). I guess we will see someone like Beenox will have a take at the franchise probably next gen. Then again, I an not sure if for Activision the sale numbers were enough to even care about the IP anymore.

Man you either do big blockbuster AAA game or small indie platformer if not then you die , that's harsh some of those B-tear games are better than the other 2 in the spectrum.

Thanks Jeff and thank you for Jackie Chan Stuntmaster Radical

@wisdumcube said:

"As such, some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward."

Sounds like the remnants of Radical Entertainment are going to be assisting on Call of Duty titles (most likely DLC) much like what happened to Raven software. I guess every Activision studio that doesn't maintain a successful IP gets put through the COD meat grinder nowadays.

And that just makes Activision seem a whole lot more like a cabal of scumbags. Raven Software was a good studio that put out good games. Radical put out good games. Now both of those once-good studios are stuck in the game development equivalent of working at a factory line pressing a button all day. How is this is any way okay? Why the fuck would anyone want to work for Activision when all they do is suck the soul right out of a place and turn everyone inside into autonomous drones only capable of texturing a M14-A1 for the next CoD map pack? Anyone remember Neversoft? Remember the good games they used to make?

Hopefully something changes over there, soon. I'd like to see a Beenox Spider-Man that wasn't rushed to shit at some point.

This is sad news indeed. Good luck to the guys and gals that are now without a job.

@Jeffsekai said:

If you didn't want to shut down, then you shouldn't have made a bad video game!

Oh man! What a great idea! Make a good game, instead of a crappy game! It's almost too easy! What was Radical Entertainment thinking!??!?!?!

So sorry to hear that. I feel like I was one of the few people who genuinely enjoyed Prototype.

Wish those guys the best, hope they land on their feet!

"As such, some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward."

Sounds like the remnants of Radical Entertainment are going to be assisting on Call of Duty titles (most likely DLC) much like what happened to Raven software. I guess every Activision studio that doesn't maintain a successful IP gets put through the COD meat grinder nowadays.

How long until Activition only does Call of Duty, Spider-Man, Transformers, Skylanders, and 007 games? With the occasional Tony Hawk game, of course.

If you didn't want to shut down, then you shouldn't have made a bad video game!

@Maystack said:

There seems to be a lot of companies shutting down recently. Is the games industry slowly collapsing? I don't want that to happen >.>

It's changing, not collapsing. It's beginning to seem like the middle-tier of games is being phased out. Soon we'll probably only see the massive-budget franchises and the indie games. There's just not enough of a place for the bigger games that sell just okay. It's why THQ is in so much trouble. They have a lot of pretty good games. Other than Saints Row, and really that's debatable, they don't have any massive franchises. It's not a remark on the quality of the games, THQ has put out some fantastic products, but they don't sell particularly well.

Enjoy making call of duty map packs!

@Maystack said:

There seems to be a lot of companies shutting down recently. Is the games industry slowly collapsing? I don't want that to happen >.>

I'd say it is quickly collapsing.

@Maystack said:

There seems to be a lot of companies shutting down recently. Is the games industry slowly collapsing? I don't want that to happen >.>

No it's not.

There seems to be a lot of companies shutting down recently. Is the games industry slowly collapsing? I don't want that to happen >.>

I guess Activision couldn't afford that ivory backscratcher.

Ah, that's a bummer, I enjoyed both Prototype games. Nothing groundbreaking, but both had a lot of dumb, fun action.

Welp, Prototype doesn't really sell and we have enough studios making Call of Duty so better shut these guys down.

Sad to hear. The Simpsons Hit & Run was my favorite Radical title.

Sure either Prototype wasn't great but to be at the Call of Duty whim of Activision is a horrible fate.

I'll preface by saying this does suck and I hate when people lose their job. 
 
That being said, they didn't make a lot of interesting things (at least recently). And I was a supporter of the first Prototype (I haven't played the second one yet). It was ok. I enjoyed it more than Infamous (even though they are not alike they kind of battled each other being somewhat similar). 
 
I don't know. I haven't played the second one yet, but while the mechanics are cool the game didn't do enough (in the first) to keep you interested all the way through. A large portion of side missions were really bad Olympic like challenges (run to check points, jump to this target, glide through the rings, etc.), or the same "destroy this" type objectives. It wasn't varied enough. 
 
I still want to play the second one though, at some point. 
 
It still sucks, but this is the nature of the Video Game industry now.

This sucks whether you like the Prototype games or not (I love them both). Good luck, guys.

The continuing story of what happens when good talent is forced to work on the wrong game.

I enjoyed being able to run up walls, jump, and glide in Prototype, just not much else.

I liked their Crash Bandicoot game a lot more than Prototype.

But it is a real shame they had to be closed - though hardly a surprise, given who owns them.

@Freezer_Burn said:

Man, this really sucks for Radical. I enjoyed Prototype 2.

Agreed, such great "dumb fun".

I never liked many of their games but don't wish that they lose their jobs. I played Incredible Hulk and got tired of it after about 10 minutes of throwing trucks around. Prototype would've been okay if it didn't have an unbeatable boss if you didn't spec right (which happened to me).

Best of luck to those developers.

Such bad news for the Canadian/Vancouver game dev scene =( Radical was one of the huge studios in Vancouver...

Best of luck to all its previous employees, hope to see some good news come out of this at some point.

I hope you duders find jobs soon.

Man, this really sucks for Radical. I enjoyed Prototype 2.

So what's left of the team is now a Call of Duty support team?

Well no shit...

Edit (my response also counts as my reaction to being first)

UPDATE: Here's Activision's statement on the matter:

Although we made a substantial investment in the Prototype IP, it did not find a broad commercial audience. Radical is a very talented team of developers, however, we have explored various options for the studio, including a potential sale of the business, and have made a difficult conclusion through the consultation process that the only remaining option is a significant reduction in staff. As such, some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward.

--

Radical Entertainment appears to be no more.

A tweet from studio audio director Rob Bridgett made a brief but damning comment this afternoon.

“RIP Radical Entertainment 1991-2012,” said Bridgett.

This arrived amidst a series of rumors regarding the fate of the studio today.

The last game Radical worked on was the not-so-warmly received Prototype 2. Oddly enough, Radical Entertainment was mentioned in a press release just two days ago, having just implemented Hansoft’s production tools.

Activision has yet to comment on the news.