145 people lost their jobs, with a mere 40 left to keep the company running. On December 18, staff were redirected to a nearby hotel after seeing the offices being locked. Assumptions regarding completion go from 75%-99% / 6-12 months of development left.įree Radical Design had its last Christmas party in 2008. LucasArts was a big spender in marketing, but for unknown reasons, they did not want to commit to spending big for this project. The footage in it was carefully selected and edited, to make the game look more polished and complete. A bit prior to this, a showreel was created internally, for usage in portfolios. With the company running out of money, they had no choice. After the May milestone (same month as Haze’s release), LucasArts refused to pass milestones and pay Free Radical Design.įree Radical Design reluctantly agreed to compromise on their contact with LucasArts on November 2008, but the sum of money they were offered (in order to prevent going to court), was smaller than what contractually agreed on at the start. LucasArts’ and Free Radical Design’s relationship would soon corrupt. A massive amount of staff lost their jobs, an entire layer of management was removed, and many projects were cancelled. Jim Ward left LucasArts on the 4th of February 2008, and in the 2nd of April, Darrell Rodriguez came to take his place. This was allowed, but soon led to more troubles. In January 2008, Steve Ellis and David Doak talked with LucasArts about delaying the release of the game. These producers were very harsh on the team and morale was dropping, with rumors appearing that Free Radical Design was sending Battlefront III developers, and using LucasArts money to work on Haze - though, as the circumstances would later show, there was no other way. The Haze team was struggling after having to delay the game, and Ubisoft sent producers over to get the game ready. The E3 presentation planned for the game was cancelled, due to the game not being in a showcaseable state at the time. Work continued on the game in 2007, with LucasArts being hopeful for the project. The game was originally only meant for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. In June 2006, Free Radical Design were contacted by LucasArts, regarding the creation of a sequel to the highly-successful Battlefront II.ĭespite the fact that Free Radical Design did not do work for hire, the fact that they would be working with the Star Wars license was a game-changer, as many of the employees were fans of the franchise.
Always seems a combination of biting off more than they can chew, and shitty management. This game is always so interesting to read about.
0 kommentar(er)
