Free Radical Design re-establishes and creates new TimeSplitters game

Deep Silver is breathing new life into the defunct studio Free Radical Design to work on a new TimeSplitters game. Steve Ellis and David Doak, who originally founded the studio, are also in charge of the new studio.

Publisher Deep Silver says that the TimeSplitters franchise is being revived. The first step is to set up a development studio that will make the games. Veterans Steve Ellis and David Doak head the studio, which is rebranded as Free Radical Design.

Ellis and Doak were the founders of a studio of the same name that released the first TimeSplitters game for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. It was a first-person shooter that resembled Nintendo 64 games like GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. Doak had previously worked on those games at Rare.

TimeSplitters focuses on time travel. The first game took place over a span of one hundred years, between 1935 and 2035. The new game is not yet in development and details about the game are not yet known. For the time being, this is only an announcement of the studio’s set-up.

Development studio Free Radical Design was originally founded in 1999. In 2009 the studio was acquired by Crytek and the name was changed to Crytek UK. The studio was then working on games in the Crysis series, but was closed in 2014 due to an internal restructuring. In 2018, THQ Nordic bought the rights to TimeSplitters, without disclosing its plans. Just like Deep Silver, THQ Nordic is part of the Embracer Group.

TimeSplitters from 2000. Image via Fandom