Hazelight director Josef Fares has taken the time to clear the air about his studio’s relationship with EA whereas promising that the It Takes Two and Split Fiction developer is already working on its subsequent recreation.
The artistic behind the notorious “f*** the Oscars” line spoke about Hazelight’s previous, current, and future throughout an interview on the Friends Per Second podcast. For individuals who loved Split Fiction, the studio’s most up-to-date critically acclaimed co-op journey, he says the workforce is already placing some early concepts collectively.
“For me, personally, each time a recreation is out, I’m sort of performed with it. I’m sort of like, ‘OK, right here’s the subsequent factor,’” Fares defined when speaking about his mentality after releasing Split Fiction. “This has been a bit further particular. I might say that it’s been the best-received recreation we have now performed, however to be sincere, everyone is tremendous glad, however I’m so fully-focused and excited on the subsequent factor that we have already got began.”
Fares declined to share an excessive amount of about what Hazelight’s mysterious subsequent title is named, what it’s about, or what sort of recreation it will likely be, principally as a result of work solely started round one month in the past. Hazelight is well-known for the mark it’s left on co-op gaming, however for now, we’ll have to attend no less than a few extra years to listen to the way it plans to comply with Split Fiction.
“There may be a cause why I can’t speak in regards to the subsequent recreation; it’s as a result of it’s fairly early,” Fares added. “You do know, at Hazelight, we don’t work on [a] recreation greater than three or 4 years. Three or 4 years isn’t so far-off. Then we’re going to speak extra about it. It’s means too early, however simply know this: we’re very, very, very, very excited right here. Very excited, and we began working on this a month ago-ish.”
A Story of Two Studios
Hazelight has labored with writer EA on a number of titles within the final seven years. Whereas video games like A Method Out and It Takes Two have continued to safe the studio’s place as a main developer within the trade, Fares mentioned the corporate has had “zero” enter relating to the video games the developer chooses to work on.
“Right here’s the factor, individuals don’t perceive this: EA is a supporter. We don’t pitch video games to them,” he defined. “We are saying, ‘We’re going to do that.’ That’s it. They’ve zero, and I imply zero, factor to say about what we’re doing subsequent.”
Whereas EA has a combined fame as a writer, Fares mentioned his expertise with EA has been largely constructive as Hazelight costs ahead to what’s coming subsequent.
“With that mentioned, I’ve to say, they’re a good accomplice,” Fares added. “No one believes me. No matter I say, they’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah. It’s EA.’ Look, I don’t know something about what EA are doing. Possibly they’re f***ing up with different builders. With us, no. They respect us. They respect what we do. I’m very clear with them that they can’t intrude with what we do. Now, we have now change into one in every of their most profitable studios.”
Split Fiction has simply solidified its place as one other Hazelight success story in additional methods than one. Whereas it rapidly propelled itself to excessive scores from critics (IGN’s Split Fiction assessment returned a 9/10), it additionally managed to promote 1 million copies in solely 48 hours and a couple of million copies in only one week. Meaning it’s already outpacing its earlier title, It Takes Two, which had bought 20 million copies as of October 2024.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He is finest recognized for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. You’ll want to give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).