TimeSplitters Revival Cancellation Explained After 4 Years

I’ve always been a big fan of TimeSplitters – it might not be as famous as GoldenEye or Halo, but it’s a really special game, and the sequels were just as good! The team who made it, Free Radical Design, went on to work on Haze and the Crysis games, but sadly they closed down in 2014. It was amazing news when they reformed in 2021 and announced a new TimeSplitters was coming, but it never happened. Now we finally understand why that promise was broken.

David Doak, a co-founder of the original Free Radical Design and part of the team brought back to revive the studio, recently shared some thoughts on the situation. While his statement doesn’t reveal everything, it confirms that Free Radical was highly motivated to create a new TimeSplitters game.

What Happened to the TimeSplitters Reboot?

During MCM London Comic Con, Doak stated in a press release (spotted by RetBit) that the failure wasn’t due to anything his team did, but rather caused by external factors. He didn’t offer further details.

It pretty much confirms what we fans have suspected all along: the TimeSplitters reboot was killed by interference from Embracer Group. We likely won’t ever get the full story, but it sounds like they weren’t happy with where Free Radical was at with the game and decided to pull the plug, shutting the studio down again in 2023. It’s a real shame.

According to a statement, Doak explained that creating a new, competitive first-person shooter is incredibly challenging today, especially when it comes to offering something truly original. This suggests Free Radical may have struggled to find a way to make the TimeSplitters reboot stand out. While we can’t be certain, the difficulties of developing mid-budget games like this likely contributed to Embracer Group’s decision to shut down the studio.

It looks like the TimeSplitters series is coming to an end, which is disappointing. The original three games were all really good, and TimeSplitters 2 stands out as one of the best shooters for the PlayStation 2 – it even received a 90/100 score on MetaCritic. However, there’s some positive news for fans of this beloved series from Free Radical.

As a huge TimeSplitters fan, I’ve been following this for ages! A dedicated team of us have been working on TimeSplitters Rewind, which is basically a complete remake of the first three games. They’re rebuilding all the campaigns, and packing in tons of the best maps, modes, and challenges from across the series. It’s been a long time coming – they’ve been at it for years – but it’s looking like we’ll finally get to play it later this year, and I couldn’t be more excited!

The official website has a countdown ending November 23rd, meaning fans will soon be able to play the free, fan-made remake. While the cancellation of the new TimeSplitters game is still disappointing, this is the best news we could have hoped for.

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2025-11-02 20:11