TimeSplitters Creator Reveals Why the Games Haven't Been Remastered

The TimeSplitters franchise has been dormant since 2005, but the games still hold a special place in the hearts of gamers. The first-person shooter series was a critical success story, with TimeSplitters 2 being billed as a successor to GoldenEye 007. While the trilogy would seem perfectly suited for remasters, there's a reason that it's never happened: it would be too expensive. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Free Radical founder Steve Ellis revealed that several companies have approached him about remastering the games over the years, only for them to end up with sticker shock. 

"What people expect with a remaster is [that it's] going to be quick and cheap to make. But the whole concept of TimeSplitters was about having a massive, diverse range of environments and characters. It's exactly the kind of thing that you can't do quickly or cheaply," Ellis tells GamesIndustry.biz. "The main thing that has multiplied the cost of making games these days is the cost of asset creation, so if you are trying to make 120 characters to modern standards, that is not going to be quick or cheap. If you're making a load of diverse environments with hardly any asset reuse, that is not quick or cheap."

A Price too High

While Ellis notes that he would "love to see" TimeSplitters remasters happen, most companies are "hoping for something a quarter of" the projected costs. The other factor is that the FPS genre has greatly changed since these games were originally released. At the time, local multiplayer was king, but in the modern era, every FPS game is expected to have online multiplayer. Implementing that for games that weren't designed with online in mind is going to result in even more work. 

"It's always TimeSplitters 2 that people want a remaster of. But that game was not written with online multiplayer in mind. Really it needs to be reauthored from the start and again, that's not quick," says Ellis.

Where to Play the TimeSplitters Games

With TimeSplitters remasters looking a bit unlikely, anyone that wants to play the original games is left with limited options. The first game was a PS2 exclusive, while TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect were also released on GameCube and Xbox. The original Xbox versions of those two games are available to play on current Xbox platforms, either through physical backwards compatibility with the original disc, or digitally on the Microsoft Store. They are not available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, or Steam. 

The original incarnation of Free Radical Design was closed in 2014, but the company was reestablished in 2021 by Embracer Group and Deep Silver. A fourth game in the series was announced at the time, with Ellis and other key developers being involved once again. While it all sounded quite promising, the project was officially cancelled last year following the closure of Free Radical. Some former employees of the company leaked concept art from the project, which readers can check out right here. 

Would you like to see the TimeSplitters games remastered? Are you surprised that it would be so expensive? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!