First person shooters fans will almost certainly remember the TimeSplitters franchise, Free Radical’s classic PlayStation 2 series. The games became a cult classic, eventually spawning two sequels, the latest being TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. Members of Free Radical Design have shared some details as to why Timesplitters 4 never saw the light of day.
Speaking to Play Magazine, Tristan Reidford, Lead Artist on Future Perfect stated:
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect didn’t perform as well as expected in the shops. Although fun to make, without stellar sales figures a further TimeSplitters game was going to be a tough one to sell to publishers. It’s a hard game to summarise in an easy sentence like ‘car modding racing game’ or ‘third-person stealth game.’
James Cunliffe, Lead Animator on Future Perfect, added:
I think we just felt that the franchise was well received but we had other things we wanted to try before going back to. We weren’t in any particular hurry to rush into TimeSplitters 4.
Crytek UK, formerly known as Free Radical, have been rumored to be developing the fourth TimeSplitters game for next generation consoles. If said rumor is true, perhaps the same team that developed the first games in the series, can bring the franchise back to life.
[Via]
