100,000 likes is only the beginning for a TimeSplitters revival.
By grthomson, 19th Jun 2012 | Follow this author
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Social media is the new way forward in judging the community size and target audience for the TimeSplitters series of games. Can a fourth one really become a reality due to a fast-growing Facebook petition and Twitter combo?
The petition
Created by three fans of the comical and iconic FPS series, ‘100,000 Strong for TimeSplitters 4’ is a Facebook group that has been gaining a lot of attention from press and fans alike recently.
Aiming to show the CEO of Crytek, Cevat Yerli, that there is a demand for a fourth game in the collection, the group has the support of several members of Crytek UK.
When the group was only in its infancy, Graeme Norgate (best known for his work on the soundtracks of GoldenEye 007 on the N64 and TimeSplitters) promised to create a ‘TS-inspired victory song’ if it reached the target of 100,000. This move inspired two other Crytek UK members to chip in with milestone incentives, with Senior Art Director, Chris Matthews, offering to create a TimeSplitters character at 1,000 likes and Senior Sound Designer and singer for Goteki, Ross Tregenza, stating that he’d create a 2012 version of his ‘Like a Monkey’ song that featured in the 2005 installment, ‘TimeSplitters: Future Perfect’.
As of the writing of this article, the group has attained just under 15,000 likes in only two days – smashing the first two milestones with relative ease.
Community size
In a recent interview with CVG, Cevat Yerli stated that while he wished they were working on a TimeSplitters 4, they weren’t : “The thing with TimeSplitters is, if we made a sequel to TimeSplitters, nobody would accept this apart from some fans, and we don’t know how big the fan community is unfortunately.”
Backlash from this interview prompted Cevat Yerli to take to his personal Twitter account, @RealtimeCevat, and post: “I had 2 interviews that provoked this question, how big is the Timesplitters Community? Let me hear you!! TS2 rocks, one of my alltime favs!”
So far this tweet has gained 345 retweets, 132 favourites and around 1,000 replies. In e-mail correspondence, Mr Yerli has expressed his desire to have a way of judging the community size in one place and was hoping to do this via Twitter.
Popularity
Since that point, the fan-made Facebook group has taken over in terms of publicity and popularity.
Audio Director for Crytek UK, Graeme Norgate, stated in a recent blog post in reference to the ‘100,000 Strong for TimeSplitters 4’ page: “To be brutally honest... I'd set it at 2,000,000.
“If it's a few thousand people, then what kind of message do you think that conveys to potential publishers and the current developer who owns the IP?
“If I sound jaded... then it's because I've wanted to make a new TimeSplitters since 2005... that was 7 years ago... excuse my previous experiences of disappointment.”
Although Mr Norgate is no doubt right about this assessment, it can be doubted that Cevat Yerli was aiming to get anywhere close to ONE million retweets or replies via Twitter, given Twitter’s penchant for current trends, with old trends dropping out all the time to be lost in the ether of whatever else is popular at that moment in time.
With an average ‘like’ amount of 8 users per hour at peak times, the right publicity and coverage could easily take it way past the 100,000 mark and on to the shelves or digital download market.
Support the cause
To show your support for the TimeSplitters series:
Like the group on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/Timesplitters4PLZ
Reply, retweet and favourite Cevat Yerli via Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/realtimecevat
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