Radiant Worlds Acquired by Rebellion

The eighties were a great time for the Oliver Twins, and the duo are rightly respected as being some of the most prolific and successful coders of the British 8-bit computing scene. The twins brought the world the Dizzy series, Super Robin Hood, and The Race Against Time, among other classics.

Sadly, 2017 was a bittersweet year for the brothers. Despite celebrating the 25th anniversary of Dizzy with a new game release and an exhibition and the National Videogame Museum, the Olivers' company Radiant Worlds fell on hard times and had to lose a number of staff members. It wasn't looking good, and there was concern that the company were set to go out of business.

The Oliver Twins, Founders of Radiant Worlds.

Thankfully, that's not the case, and fellow gaming veterans Rebellion have purchased the company, saving 70 jobs in the process, and expanding the staff numbers at rebellion to over 300.

“To bring such great people to the company, just after our 25th birthday, is quite remarkable,” said Rebellion CEO and co-founder Jason Kingsley, OBE. “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 are now known as Rebellion Warwick, a sister studio to the company’s main headquarters in Oxford. Rebellion Warwick will begin work on current Rebellion projects – including the 1930s co-op adventure Strange Brigade revealed last year - and in the future will contribute to projects based on Rebellion’s other IPs such as Evil Genius, Sniper Elite, Battlezone, and more.There's no word on whether cancelled MMO SkySaga will be returning.

Philip and Andrew Oliver will remain at Rebellion Warwick, however the Company's Chairman and COO Richard Smithies will be leaving the company.

It's not yet known if the deal will rescue SkySaga.

Philip Oliver said of the deal:

“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.”