Yet Frontier founder David Braben explains that “there was an issue” which made the Cambridge-based outfit pull out of discussions to acquire the fallen developer.
Free Radical closed its doors and was placed into administration late in December. Soon after, the group’s administrators explained to Edge that several parties had shown significant interest in buying the developer, before the surprise announcement early in February that Crytek had acquired the studio.
Braben explains that Frontier was not part of the auction to buy Free Radical, following a disagreement with the administrators. “I was not happy with the way that the administration was conducted,” he says.
Braben wouldn’t give a full explanation why he was not satisfied with the administration, stating that he had to be careful with what he said about the matter.
“I think, given that we were employing staff from Free Radical at the time, the administrator wasn’t prepared to entertain a discussion of us purchasing the company,” he says.
Braben adds that Frontier has employed a number of people who had left Free Radical, though discussions to acquire more are in place and the group has received “several tens” of applications.