The success of cult hitFive Nights at Freddy’sfrom developer Scott Cawthon is almost entirely attributable to the franchise’s obsessed fanbase. Their dedication to supporting theFive Nights at Freddy’sgames, Cawthon himself, as well as the flourishing community surrounding the games, is invaluable. Cawthon himself acknowledges this, and now he’s acting on it. This past Friday, Cawthon announced theFazbear Fanverse Initiativeto fund fan-created games spun off ofFive Nights at Freddy’s.
Cawthon says that he is going to be paying out of his own pocket to support the development of several community-madeFive Nights at Freddy’sspin-offs. As for why he’s doing this, Cawthon simply states that “I want to see them keep going.” And while Cawthon doesn’t explicitly state it, it’s implied that the game developers will also be paid for the completion of their work, as well as share in their games' profits.
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That’s because theFazbear Fanverse Initiativeisn’t just a funding effort. It’s also a product. While each of the fan games will eventually be released individually on GameJolt for free, just likeFive Nights at Freddy’sfangamesusually are, they’ll also be bundled together and released on consoles and mobile. Cawthon also says that he’s planning on potentially selling toys and other merchandise for the fan games, too.
The five games that Cawthon says he’s funding, to start, includeFive Nights at Candy’s 4,The Joy of Creation: Ignited Collection,Popgoes Evergreen,One Night at Flumpty’s 3, and a re-imagining of theoriginalFive Nights at Freddy’sfrom Phisnom. Cawthon does say that he’s planning on adding “other games from the same series” to the Fazbear Fanverse Initiative bundle, too. Fans will have to wait to hear exactly what those extra games will be.
For the time being,Cawthonsays that development continues. He specifically notes that there are some older fan games that reused copyrighted assets, which obviously isn’t acceptable for a product that’s going to be sold for a profit. As such, some developers are having to go back and replace all the reused assets with entirely new assets, or remake their older games entirely. So Cawthon’s saying that even some of the classic games may be worth revisiting to see what’s been changed or upgraded.
Finally, because it’s whatFive Nights at Freddy’sdoes so well, Cawthon encourages fans to show support for each of the games' creators and the project. Cawthon wants theFazbear Fanverse Initiativeto “turn into something cool,” hinting that if it’s successful then even more fan games can be added in the future.
TheFazbear Fanverse Initiativeis coming to consoles and mobile.
