Crytek President Cevat Yerli has revealed he'd be prepared to push for a re-release or sequel to Timesplitters, but only if fans can demonstrate there's demand.

Speaking to GameInformer, Yerli explained that while there was no question over his personal desire to see the franchise resurrected, it's currently a struggle to justify it from a business perspective.

“

If they could get the petition together I would be very happy to put in front of decision makers in the company, the key stakeholders, and say “Look here. This is how it is, let’s make it now."

"For me, I would love to see the game out there, as a newborn HD version or what not," he admitted. "I definitely would love to see it. But the case of turning this into a business decision is still difficult, despite the fact that there was a Twitter request feed to test the waters."

In mid-October, fans launched a petition with the aim of trying to prove that there was still enough of a fanbase to justify a remake, but Yerli says this didn't work well enough and confirmed the company's past feelings about the game.

He revealed, "There is actually a petition running online trying to bring the fan base together. But unfortunately the petition doesn’t look that convincing. If the petition picks up it will be an even better argument for us.

"It just seems to be as we expected, as it was when it was Free Radical."

Timesplitters was originally developed by Free Radical, which Crytek obtained in February 2009.  Despite fan hopes that this would mean a fourth entry in the popular shooter series may see release, Yerli reveals there wasn't enough industry demand. He asserted that he's still prepared to champion the cause though, presenting the magic number of 300,000 signatures as how many would be required to get the project off the ground.

"There’s a very hardcore market that is very verbal about it," he explained. "I would love to see this, and if the fan base approves a further petition. They’re trying to call 300,000 voices, I think it’s at two or three thousand right now. If they could get the petition together I would be very happy to put in front of decision makers in the company, the key stakeholders, and say “Look here. This is how it is, let’s make it now.""

Since referencing the petition, over 25,000 more signatures have appeared in a few hours. As the company has previously ruled out using Kickstarter to get the franchise get back on its feet, go sign if you fancy another outing with Cortez and co.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and counts Timesplitters as one of his favourite franchises. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com