Rebellion buys Oliver Twins studio Radiant Worlds

Rebellion, the makers of Sniper Elite (not to mention the owners of the comic 2000 AD), have expanded their business portfolio once more. It's bound in black leather with red contrast stitching, has built-in pen holder and a cartridge pouch, and... oh, yes, they've bought Radiant Worlds. That studio name might not be familiar, as they'd only worked on a doomed Minecraftbut MMO named SkySaga: Infinite Isles, but you might know two of the names behind the studio: Andrew and Philip Oliver. You know, the Oliver Twins, them lads in the '80s UK games scene who span an egg so hard it became Dizzy. Well, now Radiant Worlds is part of Rebellion and working on Rebellion's games.

Radiant Worlds announced SkySaga in November 2014 and did soon let players into an invitation-only alpha but, in August 2017 shortly before the open beta launch, publishers Smilegate put the game on indefinite hold. Seeing as that was Radiant's only game, they've been in a sticky situation. While they haven't brought SkySaga with them, they are at least safe now.

Rebellion announced today that they have snapped up Radiant Worlds "for an undisclosed sum" (paid in eggs, I assume) and welcome the studio and its 70 members, Olivers included, into the family as Rebellion Warwick. That pushes Rebellion past 300 people across three studios, which is really quite large for the UK.

Radiant are now helping with games Rebellion already have on the go, such as the cooperative pulp 'em up shooter Strange Brigade.

I'm a little ill right now, and in my funk I see Dizzy the egg being shot by a slow-mo Sniper Elite bullet. It crackes through the shell, pierces the membranes, bursts the air cell, ripples through the albumen, and--will it? will it?--just nicks the yolk, leaving a swirl of yellow as the bullet punches out the other side. Get well soon, me.