The story of TimeSplitters Next and Free Radical Design 2.0

26.03.2024 - 11:17 / gamesindustry.biz / Steve Ellis / David Doak

I was eagerly awaiting the return of TimeSplitters.

For those that don't know the franchise, it was a first-person shooter series that debuted at the launch of PS2. It was the first game by Free Radical Design, a team formed by the creators of GoldenEye and Perfect Dark, including Steve Ellis, David Doak, Karl Hilton, and Graeme Norgate.

The first TimeSplitters was a hit, but it was the second one that proved the real critical darling and breakthrough success. A third game, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, arrived in 2005 and was another strong outing, but didn't quite reach the levels of its predecessor.

Free Radical's story takes a downward turn from there. The disappointing launch of its new IP Haze, followed by a publishing deal that went south, sent the company into bankruptcy in 2008.

And TimeSplitters lay dormant until, in 2018, Koch Media (now Plaion) acquired the rights to the franchise.

"I was on holiday at the time [that story came out]," recalls Steve Ellis. "I didn't really know who they were. But it being TimeSplitters, I felt I ought to find out what they [were] doing. So I got in touch with Klemens [Kundratitz, CEO], went to see him, and said 'why don't we do something?'

"I don't think they really had a plan of what to do. But they wanted to do something. I suggested we set up a new team and make a new game, and it went from there."

Ellis was given a small budget to build a prototype for what a new TimeSplitters might look like, so he hired a small team. Then COVID-19 hit.

"We had seven or eight people, who were mostly graduates, and we had to send them all home," he recalls. "I remember driving them around and taking their PCs to their houses. We naively thought that it might last for a few weeks. As it turned out, we would spend the next two years working from home and building the team.

"It wasn't the ideal start. But it went reasonably well. Having that bit of time together in the office [before lockdown] was useful. At least that core of the team knew each other quite well.

"We had about 14 people by the end of the prototype period, and that is when we pitched to Plaion what we thought we ought to make. They gave us the go ahead, and the decision was made to form the new studio."

The decision seemed ambitious. TimeSplitters is well loved, but it had been dormant for years and was never a smash hit. Building a AAA team to create a new game in the series seemed like a risk. Wouldn't it make sense to start with a remaster of the earlier games?

"I've lost count of the number of times over the past 20 years that someone has approached me about a TimeSplitters remaster," Ellis explains. "It's definitely double digits. I've been through the process so many times where I've budgeted it up for them.

"Wha