When Deep Silver re-formed developer Free Radical Design a few years ago, there was hope that we’d see a return of the TimeSplitters franchise. Sadly, that return is now up in the air, as Embracer Group (which owns Deep Silver) has now closed Free Radical Design.
Per Video Games Chronicle, there were reports weeks ago that the Nottingham-based company was potentially being closed, due to company-wide cuts at Embracer and its owned publishers. The website for Free Radical Design today has effectively confirmed those reports, with the website now reading “404 Company Not Found :-(“.
As mentioned, it’s not clear what Free Radical’s closure will mean for the future of TimeSplitters, which original founders Steve Ellis and David Doak had aimed to revive alongside the revival of the studio.
The first incarnation of Free Radical Design began in 1999, where the team developed the TimeSplitters series for the PlayStation 2. A mix of sci-fi, horror and humour, TimeSplitters had humans battling against a race of alien beings known as the TimeSplitters, who travel through time changing the course of history in order to bring about humanity’s destruction.
The last TimeSplitters game, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, was released back in 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and the Xbox. Free Radical also developed the psychological thriller Second Sight, also for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and the Xbox, as well as PC (which you can grab on Steam).
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