It’s time for Timesplitters fans to get excited and then let down again because today, an ex-developer previously assigned to the Timesplitters Next project has released gameplay footage of the now cancelled game.
Today, gameplay footage of the previously cancelled Timesplitters Next title has been shared online by an ex-developer over on their LinkedIn page. This was after the Embracer Group shuttered the Free Radical Design Nottingham, UK-based studio, as they were working on the next installment of the franchise. Free Radical Design was part of the ‘company restructuring’ Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors mentioned in their latest financial statement amid an intense wave of layoffs and studio closures for the group.
Luckily, an ex-developer from Free Radical Design has shared the previously unreleased Timesplitters Next footage over on LinkedIn for fans to see, but that has since been taken down. The footage has now been relocated to the streamable website where fans can view the footage and see what may have been for the Timesplitters franchise.
Eurogamer caught former developer statements with the initial upload of the Timesplitters Next footage. One developer said, “Originally it was a Fortnite clone. Nobody wanted that really, not even us, but we didn’t have much of a choice for a long time,” developers went further with the plot idea for the next title with “It was going to be a ‘What If…’ where Corporal Hart went through instead of Cortez so we could make things slightly different.”
The footage of the now cancelled Timesplitters Next does resemble a sped-up version of Epic Games’ Fortnite, but it’s apparent it is Timesplitters due to the throwback Goldeneye 007 UI appearance and signature weapons that are staples for Timesplitters. Fans can view the gameplay footage over on this website since it has now been removed from LinkedIn.
