TimeSplitters Studio Free Radicals Reforms to Make a New Entry at Last

After years of speculation, fan requests, and false starts, TimeSplitters is finally returning for real, courtesy of publisher Deep Silver and a number of the original developers.Deep Silver announced today that a number of “key original members” of Free Radical Design have joined together to reform the studio under the same name, including founders Steve Ellis and David Doak. The studio will serve as a subsidiary of Deep Silver.

“To finally be able to confirm that the studio has been formed and that we have a plan for the next TimeSplitters game is incredible,” said Ellis. who is serving as the studio development director. “While we cannot tell you anything more at the moment, we look forward to sharing information in the future.”

Sadly, we may have to wait quite a while to see what Free Radicals is cooking up; development is not expected to begin on the new TimeSplitters for a few months, with the team expecting to spend some time building out its studio in Nottingham first.

TimeSplitters was a first-person shooter series masterminded by Doak, Ellis, Karl Kilton and Graeme Norgate after the four left Rare years before. TimeSplitters was first released in 2000 as a launch game for the PlayStation 2, and echoed elements from previous Rare shooters such as GoldenEye 007. It took place across multiple different time periods with 18 separate characters battling against the titular foe, creatures who can travel through time and wreck history using special crystals.

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It got a sequel in TimeSplitters 2 in 2002, and a further entry in 2005 called TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. After Free Radicals struggled to find a publisher for a fourth game, the rights languished at Crytek for years before Deep Silver parent Koch Media bought them up in 2018.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.