Editing TimeSplitters (section)

== Development ==

=== ''TimeSplitters'' and ''TimeSplitters 2'' (1999–2002) ===
The ''TimeSplitters'' games were developed by [[Free Radical Design]], a development company based in the [[Midlands|Midlands, UK]].<ref name=":17" /> Free Radical was founded in 1999 by five people, all of whom had previously worked for [[Rare (company)|Rare]] on the [[Nintendo 64]] first-person shooters [[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|''GoldenEye 007'']] and ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' for a year and a half of development, but before its release:<ref name=":29">{{Cite web|last=Barnes|first=Adam|date=2021-04-28|title=The history of TimeSplitters: "We naively thought that EA are better at selling games than Eidos"|url=https://www.gamesradar.com/the-history-of-timesplitters/|access-date=2021-04-29|website=[[GamesRadar+]]|language=en}}</ref> directors David Doak and Steve Ellis set up the company,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Stanton|first=Rich|date=2012-05-04|title=Free Radical vs. the Monsters|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-04-free-radical-vs-the-monsters|access-date=2021-05-21|website=[[Eurogamer]]|language=en}}</ref> and were then followed by director Karl Hilton, soundtrack composer Graeme Norgate, and Lee Ray.<ref name=":29" /><ref name=":14" /><ref name=":16">{{Cite web|last=Perry|first=Douglass|date=2000-06-16|title=Timesplitters Interview|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/06/17/timesplitters-interview|access-date=2020-11-24|website=[[IGN]]}}</ref><ref name=":17">{{Cite web|date=2002-10-11|title=Interview: Free Radical Splits GameCube|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/10/11/interview-free-radical-splits-gamecube|access-date=2020-11-24|website=[[IGN]]}}</ref> As a result of this shared development team, gameplay similarities, and occasionally overlapping settings (such as a Russian dam, as featured in ''TimeSplitters 2''), the ''TimeSplitters'' franchise is often compared to these predecessors,<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> and considered to be their "spiritual successor."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Porter|first=Jon|date=2021-05-20|title=Acclaimed TimeSplitters franchise set to return under reborn Free Radical studio|url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/20/22445699/timesplitters-free-radical-design-deep-silver|access-date=2021-05-21|website=[[The Verge]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Machkovech|first=Sam|date=2021-04-09|title=Goldeneye successor unofficially unlocked as free bonus inside another game|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/04/timesplitters-2s-hd-port-unlocked-thanks-to-long-lost-debug-code/|access-date=2021-05-21|website=[[Ars Technica]]|language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Santa Maria|first=Alex|date=2020-11-17|title=TimeSplitters 2 Remake Hopes Turn Out To Be Misunderstood Easter Egg|url=https://screenrant.com/timesplitters-2-remake-easter-egg-not-real-cancel/|access-date=2021-05-21|website=[[Screen Rant]]|language=en-US}}</ref>

Free Radical made an agreement with [[Square Enix Europe|Eidos Interactive]] in February 1999 to "work for roughly three years on a novel FPS".<ref name=":29" /> Although it was not the first game worked on by the team–the first being an FPS with the working title of ''Redemption'':<ref name=":29" /> what would later become [[Second Sight (video game)|''Second Sight'']]–<ref name=":14" /> ''TimeSplitters'' began development after the company received approval to obtain a PlayStation 2 [[Software development kit|devkit]], which were difficult to obtain<ref name=":29" /> and decided to focus on creating a more straightforward shooter whose pace would suit the new console's power,<ref name=":14" /> and which could be developed in time for the PlayStation 2's delayed launch date.<ref name=":29" /> The team approached the project with the intent of increasing not just pace, but also the quantity/variety of enemies compared to ''GoldenEye'' and ''Perfect Dark''.<ref name=":16" /> In the words of David Doak:<blockquote>"Steve [Ellis, lead programmer] got something up and running really quickly. I think Sony were really impressed; their experience had been that people would take six months, eight months, a year to get anything working at all on PS2. It was down to Steve's technical ability: he had a first-person thing up and running fairly quickly."<ref name=":29" /></blockquote>In October 2000, following initial development under the working title of ''MPG'' (''Multiplayer Game''),<ref name=":29" /> the completed ''TimeSplitters'' became Free Radical's first game release,<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":8" /> and was the only PlayStation 2 launch title developed in Europe.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":29" />

This was followed directly by ''TimeSplitters 2'' in October 2002,<ref name=":29" /><ref name=":2" /> which was developed in less than two years and released simultaneously for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.<ref name=":29" /> Like its predecessor, ''TimeSplitters 2'' was published by Eidos Interactive.<ref name=":15">{{Cite web|last=Bramwell|first=Tom|date=2003-09-04|title=No TimeSplitters 3 for Eidos|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/news040903eidosts3|access-date=2020-11-23|website=[[Eurogamer]]|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":14" /> Eidos had originally stated that they would not support a GameCube version, claiming it "had no relationship with Nintendo"; however, they reversed that decision once Free Radical offered the publishing rights to [[Activision]].<ref name=":29" />

David Doak described ''TimeSplitters 2'' as "what we thought the first game should have been ... all the ideas we'd had along the way."<ref name=":20">{{Cite web|last=Wise|first=Josh|date=2018-08-24|title=TimeSplitters creator interview: GoldenEye, Future Perfect, and the Koch Media acquisition|url=https://www.videogamer.com/features/timesplitters-creator-interview-goldeneye-future-perfect-and-the-koch-media-acquisition|access-date=2020-11-24|website=VideoGamer.com|language=en}}</ref> This included strengthening the single-player mode, which had received criticism for its lack of depth in the multiplayer-focused original.<ref name=":17" /> Development for the sequel had begun the very next day after the game was completed in September 2000, and would ultimately include enhancements such as a new animation system and improved special effects.<ref name=":17" />

=== ''TimeSplitters: Future Perfect'' (2003–2005) ===
In 2003, a decision was made for Eidos to part ways with Free Radical.<ref name=":15" /> Following this, the team were approached by [[Electronic Arts]], who said that they "love the ''TimeSplitters'' series and they wanted to get involved with it."<ref name=":18" /> In January 2004, EA announced that it would be publishing the series' third entry in the following year, promising "improved gameplay functions, completely revamped graphics, a wholly original storyline and all-new online play".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2004-01-21|title=TimeSplitters 3 Announced|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/01/21/timesplitters-3-announced|access-date=2020-11-25|website=[[IGN]]}}</ref> The game's development team felt that the questions asked by EA during the early stages of its development helped them to refine their process, providing a "fresh approach which encouraged us to focus on specific issues."<ref name=":19" /> For this third game, the team had also shifted to a model where the level designers would choose settings that were "interesting to them" and the lead writers would then establish a narrative to connect those separate elements.<ref name=":23" />

''TimeSplitters: Future Perfect'', was released in March 2005,<ref name=":5" /> following on from Free Radical's first non-''TimeSplitters'' game, ''Second Sight'', in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Davies|first=Marsh|date=2012-05-06|title=Retrospective: Second Sight|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-06-retrospective-second-sight|access-date=2020-11-23|website=[[Eurogamer]]|language=en}}</ref> Prior to the game's release, the developers expressed a desire to establish an "ongoing relationship" with EA;<ref name=":18" /> however, in later interviews, Doak reflected that the game "wasn't successful because EA buried it", recalling a scenario where he was told by an EA rep that there would not be significant marketing investment, because it was instead being invested in ''[[GoldenEye: Rogue Agent]]'', developed by [[Danger Close Games|EA Los Angeles]].<ref name=":20" /> Doak recounts being told that "your game's really good, but unfortunately we've got another game which has turned out to not be as good as we thought it was going to be, and we need to support it with the marketing money."<ref name=":20" /> In Doak's words:<blockquote>"We did ''Future Perfect'' with EA and I think delivered an amazingly good game, but they didn't make the effort to sell it ... and by that time Free Radical was a fairly big company, so we had a lot of mouths to feed. We were quite cross with them, to put it mildly."<ref name=":14" /></blockquote>

=== Future ''TimeSplitters'' games (2007–2023) ===
Following confirmation in 2007 that work on it had begun,<ref name=":0" /> ''TimeSplitters 4'', having failed to secure a publishing deal,<ref name=":1" /> was placed on hold when Free Radical was taken over by Crytek, becoming Crytek UK in 2009.<ref name=":31" /><ref name=":32" /> This was followed in 2014 by the closure of Crytek, at which time, the majority of staff were relocated to Dambuster Studios.<ref name=":33" />

In August 2018, Koch Media acquired the rights to ''TimeSplitters'', and by 2019 had hired series co-creator Steve Ellis to plan the series' future.<ref name=":7" /> Work on "[bringing] the ''TimeSplitters'' franchise back to life" was confirmed in May 2021 with the reformation of Free Radical Design (as part of Deep Silver), although development had not yet begun on the game by that time.<ref name=":30" /><ref name=":34" />

In November 2021, [[Microsoft]] added [[backwards compatibility]] to the [[Xbox Series X and Series S|Xbox Series X/S]] and [[Xbox One]] for both ''TimeSplitters 2'' and ''TimeSplitters: Future Perfect'', as part of an Xbox 20th anniversary event.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sansonia|first=Manson|date=2021-11-15|title=TimeSplitters 2 and 3 Added to Xbox Backward Compatibility|url=https://gamerant.com/timesplitters-2-3-xbox-backward-compatibility/amp/|access-date=2021-11-19|website=Game Rant|language=en-US}}</ref>