THQ Nordic claims its ‘TimeSplitters 2 Remake’ reference was a joke

THQ Nordic has claimed that an in-game item put in its latest release referencing “TimeSplitters 2 Remake” was as a joke.

SpellForce 3: Fallen God released for PC last week, and players later discovered that several in-game items could be acquired which refer to upcoming and released THQ Nordic titles.

The items include Biomutant, Gothic Remake, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom and “TimeSplitters 2 Remake”.

The item’s description reads, translated from French: “It’s finally coming! The iconic shooter, which has stood the test of time to join the era of modern games.”

However, a spokesperson for THQ Nordic has since claimed that this item was intended as a joke. “The intention behind those easter eggs was pure fun. When Koch Media and Deep Silver are ready to talk about TimeSplitters, they will make sure to get heard,” the person said.

TimeSplitters owner THQ indicated last year that it was planning a future instalment in the series, with the hiring of original co-director Steve Ellis to “help plot the future course for [the] franchise”.

Three titles in the TimeSplitters franchise released for PS2, Xbox and GameCube in the early 2000s, before developer Free Radical was acquired by German developer Crytek, where it was renamed Crytek UK and eventually sold on to Koch Media.

Koch and its Deep Silver publishing label were acquired by THQ Nordic in February 2018 and the group purchased the TimeSplitters property in August of the same year, along with another Free Radical developed title, Second Sight.

“We are hugely excited to have acquired Timesplitters,” Koch Media CEO Klemens Kundratitz said at the time.

TimeSplitters co-director Steve Ellis later told VGC he had “unfinished business” with the FPS series and that the chance to revive it was “hard to ignore”.