Many shooter fans have been hoping for a new TimeSplitters game this console generation but so far it hasn't happened. In a new interview, members of the TimeSplitters team explain why TimeSplitters 4 never happened.
"TimeSplitters: Future Perfect didn't perform as well as expected in the shops," Future Perfect lead artist Tristan Reidford told Play magazine (via NowGamer). "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'."
The decision not to make TS4 wasn't solely based on sales, though. Developer Free Radical Design wanted to pursue other projects before making a sequel.
"I think we just felt that the franchise was well-received but we had other things we wanted to try before going back to it," said James Cunliffe, lead animator on Future Perfect. "We weren't in any particular hurry to rush into TimeSplitters 4."
The turbulent years after Future Perfect probably didn't help the chances of a fourth game. After Future Perfect, Free Radical created PS3 shooter Haze. Though it was hyped as a "Halo killer" early in its development, the game fell far short of expectations. Around the same time, Free Radical was working on Star Wars Battlefront III but LucasArts pulled them from the project. The company was on the verge of shutting down by the end of 2008
Free Radical was ultimately bought by Crytek, who renamed the studio "Crytek UK." The developer ended up designing the multiplayer for Crysis 2. It's not clear what they've been up to since then, though.
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