Free Radical Design reformed by Deep Silver to work on a new TimeSplitters game

Publisher Deep Silver has announced that it is reforming Free Radical Design—the Nottingham-based studio responsible for the TimeSplitters series—with two of its original founders to work on a brand new TimeSplitters game.

In the announcement, Deep Silver said “You asked and we listened. We have been working on plans to bring the TimeSplitters franchise back to life, and are pleased to let you know that we are setting up a new Deep Silver development studio to do just that. Free Radical Design is reforming and will be headed up by industry and TimeSplitters veterans, Steve Ellis and David Doak.” 

The publisher does warn the project is only in its very early stages though, with the statement continuing “This is an exciting first step in the process; development on a new game has not yet started and we will update you when we have more news to share.”

Requests for the classic time-travelling FPS to make its return have been frequent over the years, with Deep Silver’s parent company Embracer Group (under its THQ Nordic banner) previously having to pour cold water over speculation on a remake following a cheeky easter egg in SpellForce 3: Fallen God just last year. Finally, it seems, those fan’s dreams might finally be realised soon.

Free Radical Design was originally founded in 1999 by Ellis, Doak, Karl Hilton and Graeme Norgate, and operated until 2009 when it was bought by Crytek and became Crytek UK and what remained subsequently dissolved into Homefront: The Revolution developers Dambuster Studios. Our Josh had a lovely chinwag with the aforementioned David Doak—who also worked on N64 classic 007 GoldenEye — back in 2018 on several topics Free Radical related, which you can read over here.