Deep Silver reformed the studio behind the TimeSplitters franchise, Free Radical Design, and they will be working on a new TimeSplitters game. The studio will be head by its original founders, Steve Ellis and David Doak. While the new game is not yet in development, Ellis confirms that there is “a plan for the next TimeSplitters game” in the works.
A new Deep Silver Studio is coming – Free Radical Design pic.twitter.com/N5qTTcZfsW
— Official Deep Silver (@deepsilver) May 20, 2021
The last installment in the TimeSplitters franchise was 2005’s TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. While there were initially a few reports of a TimeSplitters 4 in the works back in 2007, plans fell through after Free Radical Design’s bankruptcy back in 2008. Crytek eventually bought out the studio and rebranded it as Crytek UK, before closing it yet again due to cash flow issues. Finally, the studio rebranded to Dambuster Studios after a buyout from Koch Media in 2014.
Dambuster Studios would go on to develop many games under Koch Media’s video game publisher Deep Silver. Some notable examples include Homefront: The Revolution, and the upcoming Dead Island 2. Prior to this, the studio also worked on the Crysis series of games as well as Ryse: Son of Rome. While many fans speculated the possibility of a TimeSplitters 4 after the acquisitions, publishers were quick to squash any rumors of a revival. Ellis even went on record in 2013 to state that he didn’t think there was “any chance” of seeing a TimeSplitters 4.
While there have been no official TimeSplitters games since then, there have been various Easter eggs and references in games developed by the former creators. TimeSplitters Rewind was a fan-made volunteer project to recreate the games using the CRYENGINE and was officially supported by Crytek. A 4K port of TimeSplitters 2 was also recently found hidden in Homefront: The Revolution but was a prototype that featured many glitches and bugs.
Then, in 2018, Deep Silver acquired the TimeSplitters IP. Deep Silver later announced that Steve Ellis had joined the company to help “plot the future course of the franchise.” While Ellis states that he cannot tell fans “anything more at the moment,” he continues that they are “look[ing] forward to sharing information in the future.” With the reformation of the Free Radical Design studio and the return of the game’s original creators—not to mention explicit confirmation that a new game is on the way—the future looks bright for fans of the franchise.
[Source: gamesindustry.biz, Deep Silver Twitter account]
