The canceled TimeSplitters game that was in development at Free Radical Design was allegedly a free to play Free To Play Fortnite clone at one point.
Fandom was approached by an alleged former employee of the now closed studio, Free Radical Design, with new details regarding the development of its canceled TimeSplitters project. The anonymous source shared an image of an in-game character to validate their claim, a slightly different version of which is also available on 3D Character Artist Alfred Turner’s ArtStation portfolio.
The anonymous Free Radical Design employee shared that the direction of the TimeSplitters project changed earlier this year in March, 2023. The studio had pivoted from a Free To Play Fortnite clone to a TimeSplitters 2 Remake with a few new/ and altered levels and an alternate timeline story. They mentioned that no one at the studio liked the original direction, but the development team didn’t have much of a choice for a long time.
Based on the original vision, the canceled TimeSplitters title was going to be a Free To Play Battle Royale game with some additional modes, such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Bag. Characters and skins were planned as part of micro-transactions. There was debate over what would be included with the game and what would be purchasable. There wasn’t a whole lot of story while it was a Battle Royale game, but the studio had things like the Ancient Astronauts and the ‘Space Bar’, which was a hub area.
The new direction was mostly TimeSplitters 2 with one TimeSplitters and two TimeSplitters 3 levels, along with a few brand new sections. The story was going to be a “What If” situation based on the original’s plot.
The employee also mentioned that the decision to move from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 happened as soon as the new engine was announced. It took a long time to move over and even once the development team did, it caused many problems. According to them, the game was effectively rebuilt from the ground up, section by section.
