This year Radical Entertainment finished Prototype 2 which, while met with good reviews, didn't exactly set the sales charts on fire. The PC version is still due out next month, but it looks like most of the team that created it won't be there. As of today Radical, as we knew it, is no more, though Activision didn't completely close the company.
After news spread on Twitter that Activision had closed the development studio, we soon got official statements clarifying Radical's situation. An Activision press release stated:
"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."
So after judging Prototype's sales as not good enough (it was number one in US sales for April), Radical's remaining staff will be working on other Acti properties, and it sounds like the Prototype series is effectively dead. Who knows what Activision franchises Radical will end up working on? Personally we'd like to see them help Beenox with the next Spider-Man game, as their open-world skills as seen in the Prototype titles and Hulk: Ultimate Destruction would be a real help. On the other hand, a more cynical view is that they'll probably end up helping out on Call of Duty just as Raven Software has after its underrated Singularity came out.
Whatever the future of Radical, we'll remember them for the great games they left us, including the Prototypes, Hulk adventures and Simpsons Hit & Run. Best of luck to the people involved in this bad news.
