Games Thirst: Amazing Life
During June of this year, Cevat Yerli, CEO and founder of Crytek, recently discussed a possible revival of the zany TimeSplitters series. Free Radical was in pre-production of Timesplitters 4 before the development company was acquired by Crytek in 2008, ceasing development. In reference to the series, Yerli stated, “I love Timesplitters, I’m a huge Timesplitters fan particularly of the multiplayer part. I love the idea, I love the brand, I love everything – but the publishers don’t. That’s reality. And I don’t want to spend our own money on the project in a retail business.” Yerli then called Timesplitters fans to rally, and show their desire for another installment.
It seems like fans are answering his call.
On social networking site Facebook is the group, 100,000 Strong for Timesplitters 4, with close to 30,000 members, their main goal is to reach 100,000+ members to show that gamers want Timesplitters 4. Besides the Facebook group, petitions have been created, and websites that dedicated to Timesplitter 4 related news have been founded.
Two months after the interview mentioned above, Yearli was asked what is the status of the Timesplitters franchise in an interview with VG 24/7′s Dave Cook. Yerli replied,
I tested through my official blog to see how big the Timesplitters community is, and while the volume of responses was quite high, we feel it’s not high enough yet. That being said, it did indeed trigger a deeper evaluation of what we do with Timesplitters, and I can only say this for now; we might have some surprises coming soon.”
What these “surprises” might be are in the air. Yerli mentioned possibly bringing the series to Crytek’s upcoming social network G-FACE. He also mentioned a kickstarter project, but implied he felt uncomfortable with the image of Crytek calling on fans for financial support. Then again, it could just be a red herring.
With the last Timesplitters installment released in 2005, I hope that more fans will remember and clamor for the crazy-monkey-filled shooter to return, so that the publishers will listen. But, with the Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo series dominating the shooter market, I doubt the publishers will go for it. I pray that I am wrong. Thoughts on the article? Comment below!
