TimeSplitters 4 not ruled out by Crytek

TimeSplitters developer Free Radical (now Crytek UK) has said that the group is prepared to create the next edition of the TimeSplitters series, but no such project is currently underway.

In the second part of an exclusive interview, Develop put to Crytek UK MD Karl Hilton that the studio won’t be able to shake off speculation that it’s working on a new TimeSplitters title, to which he replied,

“Going forward, we’ve always made it very clear that we want to build original games and we’re going to do that, and we are concepting some of that up at the moment.

“It’s early days, but there’s some really exciting stuff that we’re concepting. When we’re ready we’ll talk to publishers, and hopefully publishers will like it, and we’ll own and produce those games in our own studio.”

Crytek UK’s sixty-plus staff is presently focused on developing the upcoming Crysis 2, with a view to expand the studio’s workforce to around 100.

Hilton said that Crysis 2 is a “major AAA game that we are delighted to be working on. It is a dream project.”

When asked if an idiosyncratic IP such as TimeSplitters would fit in with the hyper-realistic-leaning Crytek group, Hilton replied,

“Going forward with future projects, it will be up to us to talk to publishers about what they want, be it the old TimeSplitters or Team Fortress route of slightly stylized or comic characters, or whether they want hyper-realistic games.”

Indeed, Hilton was of the opinion that the fate of TimeSplitters was not entirely down to the developer, but instead the demands of the market.

“Like with all businesses, content is dictated by the desires of the market,” he said. “These days the mass-market shooters tend to be aimed at the hyper-realistic stuff. If developers had free reign with the CryEngine, they would easily be able to produce really bizarre, wacky wonderful stuff.

“We have artists who can make super-realistic games but we also have a team that has experience making completely bizarre stuff too.

“If the time comes, if there is a demand for that type of game, I’m confident we’d be ready for it.”