The games are often considered spiritual successors to the Nintendo 64 titles GoldenEye 007 (1997) and Perfect Dark (2000), due to overlapping elements in gameplay, design, and development team.

Development on a fourth game was being undertaken by a reformed version of Free Radical, owned by Deep Silver, a subsidiary of Embracer Group, before its closure in 2023.

[16] In the following August, Rob Yescombe, scriptwriter for the series' previous title, confirmed that "TimeSplitters 4 is happening", but stated that the game was "in the very early concept stages, and as yet it's unsigned to any publisher.

"[26] On June 14, 2011, the website VideoGamer.com, citing "a high-ranking industry source at Crytek," revealed that the company was working on a new TimeSplitters game, to be released on "the next generation of consoles" (the successors to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3).

[33] In April 2018, a collection of previously unrevealed concept art for the game was made available on Reddit, showing characters from multiple time periods and locations, including Ancient Greece and 1950s United States.

On November 29, 2012, it was revealed that, partly in response to a petition for the release of an HD version of the series' original trilogy,[35] a group of fans had been given permission by Crytek to develop a TimeSplitters mod using CryEngine 3.

[36] The project lead, Michael Hubicka, stated that:"TimeSplitters 4 is our ultimate goal, but first we have to convince Crytek there is sufficient demand for the series through [an] HD Collection.

[42] Ellis expressed a desire to see the HD version released eventually, opining that "it could be the catalyst that is required in order to raise enough interest in TimeSplitters 4 that a publisher might want to fund it.

"[43] As an easter egg within Homefront: The Revolution, developed by Dambuster Studios and released by Deep Silver in 2016, players could use an in-game arcade machine to play the first two levels of TimeSplitters 2, remade in high-definition.

[45] The unlock code required to access the full version, including multiplayer features, if the arcade machine were moved to a different map, had since been lost by Phillips:[45] however, he had given it previously to a friend to "leak" in a Discord channel, which the friend had been banned for from the channel,[45][46] thereby allowing Xbox principal software engineer Spencer Perreault to obtain the code several days after the interview and share it on Twitter.

"[49]This led to speculation that the company were planning to release this remake as a genuine product; however, a spokesperson for THQ Nordic confirmed that the item was "just an innocent Easter egg" and the vendor was "a character known especially for not telling the truth.

[52][53][54] In August 2019, THQ Nordic announced in their financial report that Steve Ellis had joined the company to "help plot the future course for [the TimeSplitters] franchise.

"[57] Later that month, Dambuster Studios, which includes several former Free Radical staff members, replied to a fan on Twitter, confirming that Ellis had a team "handling the next TimeSplitters product.

"[51] The series' other creator, David Doak, confirmed in an interview that he "isn't directly involved with this new interpretation," but expressed a desire to see it return as a "social experience", rather than a traditional boxed-game product.

[61] It was also announced that the new Free Radical would be headed not just by Ellis, but also by Doak, marking the return of both franchise creators amongst other "key original members;"[62] however, it did confirm that development on the new game had not yet started,[63] and would begin "in the coming months", once the studio was fully established.

[68][69] Many of the characters represent parodies of established pop culture stereotypes, such as the aristocratic English explorer or the suave secret agent,[11][70] and many aspects of the series focus on often surreal and self-deprecating humor.

[71][11] Arcade mode is the multiplayer aspect of the TimeSplitters series, but also provides the option to include AI-controlled bots with configurable difficulty levels, to act in place of human players.

[71][72] In arcade mode, players can choose from a variety of playable characters (a total of 150 in Future Perfect, for example), each with distinct attributes in areas such as speed and stamina.

[70][71] The challenges, often with an imposed time limit,[12] span a broad variety of gameplay styles, such as defending against zombies, collecting bananas as a monkey, racing robot cats, and smashing windows with a brick.

[82][58] Eidos had originally stated that they would not support a GameCube version, claiming it "had no relationship with Nintendo"; however, they reversed that decision once Free Radical offered the publishing rights to Activision.

[75] Development for the sequel had begun the very next day after the game was completed in September 2000, and would ultimately include enhancements such as a new animation system and improved special effects.

"[68] In January 2004, EA announced that it would be publishing the series' third entry in the following year, promising "improved gameplay functions, completely revamped graphics, a wholly original storyline and all-new online play".

"[73] For this third game, the team had also shifted to a model where the level designers would choose settings that were "interesting to them" and the lead writers would then establish a narrative to connect those separate elements.

"[83] In Doak's words:"We did Future Perfect with EA and I think delivered an amazingly good game, but they didn't make the effort to sell it ... and by that time Free Radical was a fairly big company, so we had a lot of mouths to feed.

[54] Work on "[bringing] the TimeSplitters franchise back to life" was confirmed in May 2021 with the reformation of Free Radical Design (as part of Deep Silver), although development had not yet begun on the game by that time.