Radiant Worlds, the struggling new studio from the creators of the classic Dizzy platformer/adventures, has been purchased by Rebellion - presumably saving the studio from closing down. It will be renamed Rebellion Warwick and put to work on one of Rebellion's many franchises. More details below.
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Radiant Worlds was founded in 2013 by Dizzy creators the Oliver Twins (Andrew and Philip) and was working on a sandbox MMO called SkySaga: Infinite Isles. However, the studio struggled and around August 2017 Smilegate cancelled SkySaga, meaning the studio had no income. Fortunately the story ends happily as Sniper Elite developer and 2000AD owner Rebellion stepped in and have now acquired Radiant Worlds and all 70 employees, including the Olivers.
While for now the studio is helping on current Rebellion projects such as co-op shooter Strange Brigade, according to Rebellion in the future they will be able to contribute to such projects as Sniper Elite, Battlezone, and - this one has us the most excited - Evil Genius.
Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley had this to say:
"To bring such great people to the company, just after our 25th birthday, is quite remarkable. It’s been a great year for us and we have a lot of plans to help make 2018, 2019 and beyond bigger and even greater years for Rebellion."
Radiant Worlds co-founder Philip Oliver said:
"We’ve known the Kingsleys for many years and have always had enormous respect for them and the company they’ve built. We know that our core values of creativity, passion, and ambition are mirrored by Rebellion, and we’re excited to be part of their amazing team."
Rebellion certainly have a big year ahead of them, with Strange Brigade and Battlezone 2 Redux due to release sometime this year and a Judge Dredd Mega-City One TV series in production, with other developers tackling the now-open 2000AD license and, presumably, a certain Evil Genius 2 must surely be announced this year. Evil Genius of course is the sim-management title where you play a James Bond-style villain and have to create an evil lair and send minions off to carry out daring heists. Rebellion bought the license and rumours of a sequel have been persisting for quite a while - the new Rebellion Warwick should be perfect for such a quirky title, in our opinion.
