Free Radical Design released three TimeSplitters games before being acquired by Crytek in 2009 and subsequently closed in 2014. Now, the original studio is reforming to have another go.
British game development studio Free Radical Design is reforming some 12 years after the original studio was absorbed by Crytek, becoming Crytek UK, which then shut down in 2014, shifting most of its employees over to Dambuster Studios. And it’s not just the name, some of the original team has returned, including founders David Doak and Steve Ellis.
Fee Radical Design is primarily known for the critically acclaimed, GoldenEye 007-esque TimeSplitters series. The console FPSs revolve around a temporal war, with a lot of jumping back and forth though time in an effort to save humanity from an endless horde of alien invaders known as TimeSplitters.
The third (and final) official game, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, came out in 2005, but the studio did have a fourth instalment planned, they just got bought out before they could complete it and the project was put on hold. With the studio reforming under publisher Deep Silver, current owners of the TimeSplitters IP, we can expect a series revival, just not anytime soon. According to PC Gamer, they’re “concentrating on building the studio” for now.