New TimeSplitters game in the works, Deep Silver confirms

The TimeSplitters series is officially returning. Publisher Deep Silver announced Wednesday that a new game in the time-traveling shooter series is in development at newly reformed Free Radical Design, the original studio behind the TimeSplitters games.

Free Radical Design founders Steve Ellis and David Doak, programmers and designers of the original TimeSplitters and co-directors of 2005’s TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, have reunited to rebuild the studio. Ellis joined THQ Nordic, now known as Embracer Group, in 2019 “to help plot the future course for [the TimeSplitters] franchise.”

“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,” Ellis, Free Radical’s studio development director, said in a statement. “While we cannot tell you anything more at the moment, we look forward to sharing information in the future.”

Deep Silver said the studio “will commence development on the next TimeSplitters game in the coming months” and is currently building out its Nottingham-based team. Deep Silver owner Koch Media, part of Embracer Group, purchased the TimeSplitters intellectual property in 2018 from its previous owner Crytek (which acquired it from THQ’s bankruptcy auction).

The original TimeSplitters was released in 2000 for PlayStation 2. Two sequels, TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, followed. A fourth game and various remakes and remasters were planned but never came to fruition.