TimeSplitters co-creator Steve Ellis joins the team looking to revive the classic shooter franchise

Steve Ellis, one of the creators of the TimeSplitters franchise, has joined THQ Nordic to work on new games for the classic shooter franchise.

Ellis is a legendary figure for those that played a certain generation of shooters. Previously, Ellis worked with Rare on N64 hits GoldenEye and Perfect Dark before he went on to found Free Radical, which brought the world TimeSplitters. 

Last year, THQ Nordic announced that it had bought the rights to legendary 00’s shooter TimeSplitters as part of a mega acquisition spree that had seen it pick up dozens of classic franchises. At the time, they promised TimeSplitters would return, but as they had picked up so many franchises, the timeframe wasn’t clear on when that might happen. 

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Klemens Kundratitz, the CEO of THQ Nordic’s Koch Media, summed up the appeal of TimeSplitters perfectly in a statement that mentioned: “the original games gave fans a massive content offer and provided a pure and genuinely fun arcade shooter experience.”

He added: “We have many fans of the TimeSplitters series among our own staff who are passionate about creating a product that will thrill today’s gaming audience.”

It seems, with Ellis embedded with the company, the time for the time-travelling shooter to make an appearance is now, or you know, soon(™) 

It’s been a long time coming. The original TimeSplitters arrived in 2000, and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, the last game in the franchise, came out in 2005. It was a heady five years, but also it’s been nearly 15 years since we last had a new TimeSplliters to play, and most fans of the original are eager to have another blast, especially as first person shooters now have a much longer tail for their multiplayer, with live games being prevalent. 

The sheer amount of multiplayer content that TimeSplitters had was a large part of the appeal, but it was wasted on a game that could only do local multiplayer.