Free Radical: Dead, Factor 5: Dead?

Uh oh! It seems like the economic crisis is stinging everyone at the moment. News broke earlier this week that Free Radical Design have shut their doors, and now news is trickling through that Factor 5 are about to follow suit.

According to a source on the subscription based IGN forums, Factor 5 have boarded up their windows and kicked out all their staff. Right before Christmas! Heartless bastards. Both companies were riding on the back of rather poorly received releases: Haze for Free Radical and Lair for Factor 5. Free Radical Design was made up of ex-GoldenEye devs, and were responsible for the brilliant Timesplitters series. Because of their closure, Timesplitters 4 is officially dead. As for Factor 5, they were responsible for the undeniably awesome Rogue Squadron series. Excuse me while I go shed a tear over the copy of Rogue Leader that's sitting on my desk.