Ex-Radical Entertainment, Hothead Games devs form new studio

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Image via Radical Entertainment

Veteran developers from the defunct Radical Entertainment and Hothead Games studios have formed a new studio.

As spotted by users on Reddit yesterday, New Radical Games is pitched as a joint effort from developers of both defunct teams, according to the official site. This includes Ian Wilkinson as CEO and Tim Bennison as COO.

At the time of publication, it seems neither of the leads have shared a formal announcement. Wilkinson’s LinkedIn profile, however, shows the following copy as his current title: “Former Radical Entertainment, & Hothead Games CEO co-founds New Radical Games Inc.” According to the experience tab on this profile, he’s seemingly been the CEO and president of New Radical Games since December 2024.

Wilkinson co-founded Radical Entertainment back in 1991. Then, he sold the company to Vivendi Games in 2006, and retired as CEO and president two years later. He then joined Hothead in 2009.

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On the other hand, Bennison worked with Wilkinson at Radical Entertainment as executive producer and VP technology, and joined Hothead as COO in 2020. His most recent tenure was serving as COO at Capcom Game Studio Vancouver.

Radical Entertainment made a name for itself with games like The Simpsons: Hit & Run, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and the Prototype series. After being part of Vivendi Games, the studio then operated under Activision, with some of the latest credits including ports of Prototype 2 and acting as a support team for Bungie on Destiny.

Meanwhile, Hothead Games filed for bankruptcy in December 2024, culminating an 18-year-long run. Some notable works include the Deathspank and Penny Arcade Adventures series.

In a farewell post via LinkedIn at the time, Wilkinson said that Hothead had been working on a playable prototype for a triple-A project. The timing, however, didn’t line up as expected, as the studio was unable to secure contracts to develop mobile, PC, and console versions of the game.

“Unfortunately, it took longer than we expected to secure contracts for these versions of the game,” he wrote at the time. “They were both ready to close two weeks ago and then the mobile publisher pulled out due to a change in strategy. Two weeks later the console publisher also pulled out. At that point our only remaining option was bankruptcy.”

It remains to be seen what the new studio will be working on. According to the site’s meta description, the team specializes in “remastering classic games by enhancing visuals, audio, and gameplay to revive beloved titles for modern hardware.” The services listed on the actual site are work for hire full game development, mobile and console, co-dev, porting, and remastering.

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