We get to see some gameplay from the resurrected (and then killed again) Free Radical Design game, and it’s sad to see what could have been from the resurrection of the IP.

Embracer Group is trying to recover financially in a big way, as their proposed $2 billion deal with Savvy Games, a company linked to the Saudi state, fell through. As a result, they are rumored to be planning to sell Saber Interactive and Gearbox Software, and Free Radical Design and Volition (the latter of which was known for Saints Row and Agents of Mayhem) have officially closed.

The resurrected Free Radical Design was working on reviving TimeSplitters, as the IP’s last game was released in 2005 (TimeSplitters: Future Perfect). Studio art director Rob Steptoe posted five minutes of gameplay on LinkedIn, giving us a glimpse of what might have been had the studio survived. We see mostly external-view gameplay, with an over-the-shoulder camera position similar to Fortnite. Internally, the project was called TimeSplitters Next.

Plaion, the company above Free Radical Design, told VGC in a statement at the time, “It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce another difficult decision. Today we must confirm the official closure of Free Radical Design and say goodbye to many remarkable, talented and hard-working people. We are beyond grateful for their incredible contributions to Plaion and wish them the best of luck and success in their future endeavors. On the day the studio closed, one QA designer wrote: “Free Radical Design was a hub of creativity, but sadly we join a growing list of casualties in a broken industry where entire studios are treated as replaceable cogs in a soulless machine fixated on nothing but stock prices.

So it was in vain that the original founding members Steve Ellis and David Doak were brought back in 1999 to revive TimeSplitters. It was a sad end to the story.

Source: VGC