Former Free Radical employee leaks original Star Wars: Battlefront III renders
Former Free Radical employee Richard Smith has uploaded original renders created for the company in 2007 as part of the production for Star Wars: Battlefront III to his personal blog. The very early renders include images of Han Solo and Sahra The Bounty Hunter. Smith, along with over 75% of his coworkers, was recently laid off from as the developer attempts to sell its studio. Free Radical had previously developed the TimeSplitters series and the poorly received PS3-exclusive Haze.
According to a report on Videogamer.com, an unnamed inside source has told the site production of Star Wars: Battlefront III has been taken from Free Radical Design and placed in the hands of Oxford-based Call of Duty: World at War (PS2) developer Rebellion who also developed the 1999 sensation, Alien vs. Predator.
According to a report on Videogamer.com, an unnamed inside source has told the site production of Star Wars: Battlefront III has been taken from Free Radical Design and placed in the hands of Oxford-based Call of Duty: World at War (PS2) developer Rebellion who also developed the 1999 sensation, Alien vs. Predator.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andyg8180 @ Dec 29th 2008 1:22PM
Lesson learned? Never make a PS3 exclusive lol... Final Fantasy Series understood that... and they are Sony fanboys...
Triforceowner @ Dec 29th 2008 1:27PM
Dude, people lost their jobs.
andyg8180 @ Dec 29th 2008 1:36PM
What did that have to do with stating "dont make ps3" exclusives... Do you really thing these guys wont get together and start over either with another company or make their own? C'mon... The demand for video games is out there...
Oh, and thanks for spinning my comment to make it seem like im bashing the employees... retard...
Eric @ Dec 29th 2008 1:58PM
Normally I'd scuff at such a suggestion, but with the developers of the poorly received Playstation 3 exclusive Haze going out of business, so shortly after the developers of the poorly received Playstation 3 exclusive Lair going out of business, you might be on to something.
Surely, it couldn't have anything to do with the "poorly received" part of the equation. Oh I know, maybe it was because both games had 4 letter names, and as we well all know four letter words are the bad ones...
Amiculi @ Dec 29th 2008 2:11PM
The rule ought to be "don't make *bad* PS3 exclusives".
The Resistance team, MGS team, LittleBigPlanet team, etc., they're all doing wonderful.
I suppose the rule REALLY ought to just be "don't make bad games."
izikavazo @ Dec 29th 2008 2:58PM
Perhaps the lesson should be, don't make a PS3 exlusive if you're not owned by Sony.
Vcize @ Dec 29th 2008 3:04PM
Resistance and MGS are made by big, established companies and LBP was made by Media Molecule, whom Sony has a stake in. Not really the same situation as Free Radical or Factor 5, both of whom went all in and put everything on one game.
Rick @ Dec 29th 2008 1:31PM
Those pics look really good to me. It's a shame what happened to the company as it lookedlike great things were ahead.
I can't fathom their decisions. If your company isn't the most financially sound why attempt an exclusive game to a console that's deep last in the race in the America's. That's pure suicide. As far as Haze being sucky, many companies still profit off horribly yet successfully marketed games.
I hope the talent stays around somewhere, and the bonehead decision makers get out.
Tony C @ Dec 29th 2008 1:46PM
Making Haze PS3-exclusive wasn't the cause of its "poor reception" -- being a rather universally bad-reviewed game was.
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/haze?q=haze
Orion @ Dec 29th 2008 1:51PM
THANK GOD star wars battlefront III is still alive and well :D. I don't really care what developer has it's hands on it right now, just knowing it's still coming out one day makes me happy.
Amiculi @ Dec 29th 2008 2:12PM
No kidding. Especially if you played the demo for Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Such an incredibly clunky and poorly put together product at this point.
It just made me pine for a Battlefront 3.
PastaGabe @ Dec 29th 2008 2:26PM
Indeed!!!! ='D
AnthonyGalindoX @ Dec 29th 2008 3:06PM
Never played a Free Radical game before. The Timesplitters games never interested me and I heard Haze wasn't very good. Still, it's sad to see people lose their jobs. It's a shame the LotR game isn't turning out so hot either, especially considering they were responsible for the first two Star Wars: Battlefront games.
Orion @ Dec 29th 2008 3:28PM
Regarding LOTR, while I'd much much much rather have star wars battlefront, remember that Battlefront was horrible too as a demo. Remember the demo on the Star Wars DVD's? Try playing it.. it's near broken. If I had played that before I bought the game I may have never picked it up. So Pandemic still may pull through with that game.
Neuromancer @ Dec 29th 2008 3:30PM
Am I the only one that finds this Han Solo disturbing?
Tim @ Dec 29th 2008 3:50PM
Think of it as Han Solo as portrayed by Liam Neeson
derek @ Dec 30th 2008 8:02AM
Wow, i only hope Battlefront III actually looks like a good looking game. I hate it when these damn developers show a game (that looks great and all...) and then (a few months before the game releases)...they go back, and polish everything up REALLY GOOD, making the game shinier...thus killing the authentic look of the game's originality.
Like that Halo 2 demo. It looked amazing...then they releases ACTUAL game footage..and bleh.
Adam @ Dec 29th 2008 6:17PM
So this still coming out or what?
HearTheWookieBattleCry @ Dec 30th 2008 9:43AM
Timesplitters was actually a really good game. One of few that had a level editor for consoles. I think people saw the 'cartoony' look and got turned off by it. I don't know any other game that let me play as a little monkey, fragging people w/ dynamite. lol.
Wasn't Free Radical related to Rare in some way? I thought people from Free Radical had something to do w/ N64 Goldeneye?
But what's this about people losing jobs? Um, yes, I know this is a bad economy and it's horrible to lose one's job now... but isn't that the goal of every business? To NOT fail? There are plenty of other businesses closing shop every day. I'm sorry people are losing their jobs, but when failure is a result of poor quality or bad decisions, then you gotta suck it up and own up to the mistakes that were made. (*cough*americanautoindustry*cough*).
horngreen @ Dec 30th 2008 11:27AM
LOL It looked like "great things were ahead" because they made Han Solo with hat hair?