Hazelight, the Studio Behind It Takes Two and Split Fiction Is Already Working on the Next Game

Hazelight Studios, the team behind the hit game Split Fiction, is wasting no time moving forward. The game came out earlier this month and has already sold over 2 million copies in less than two weeks. It’s also earning top scores, with Metacritic rating it as the highest-rated game of the year so far. Despite this success, studio head Josef Fares says they’ve already started on their next project.

Fares shared the news during an interview on the Friends Per Second podcast. He explained that work on the new game began about a month ago. “Split Fiction is the best-received game we have done, everybody is super happy, but I’m so fully focused and excited on the next thing, that we’ve already started,” he said.

The project is still in its early stages, but the team has a 130-page outline that includes the story and some gameplay ideas. “It’s mostly in the story, what’s going to happen but a little bit in gameplay as well,” Fares noted. “It’s kind of like, ‘this is where we start, this is where we’re going.’”

The mood at Hazelight is buzzing with excitement. Fares said the team feels confident they can outdo their past work. “We just feel like, when we talk in the lunchroom or we talk to each other, we’re like, ‘Oh shit, we feel we can do better than this,’” he said. “That’s how confident we feel, and people are very happy and excited. It’s a very happy place, Hazelight.”

In another interview with Skill Up, he added, “It’s not like we’re worried about how do we top [Split Fiction]?. Just wait until [you see] what we do next. That’s how confident we are in what we’re doing. I believe we can top Split Fiction.”

Split Fiction marks another win for Hazelight, a studio known for co-op games like It Takes Two, which sold 23 million copies, and earlier titles like A Way Out and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Fares, who has directed all four, said co-op will always be part of Hazelight’s style.

Still, he didn’t close the door on trying something new. “You never know what happens in the future. It’s not impossible we look into single-player as well. But it would be done in a Hazelight way, with a Hazelight twist. It’s not going to be your typical single-player game,” he said.

The new game won’t take too long to arrive. Fares told Friends Per Second that Hazelight keeps development to three or four years. “At Hazelight, we don’t work with games [for] more than three or four years, and I mean, three or four years is not so far away, then we’re gonna talk more about it,” he said. He also shared his passion for the job. “You don’t get tired or stressed out if you really love something, and I love video games so much,” he said.

Hazelight works with EA through its EA Originals program. Fares praised their partnership. “They respect us. They respect what we do. I am very clear with them that they cannot interfere with what we do,” he said.

He added that Hazelight doesn’t pitch ideas to EA—they just tell them what’s next. “We’re going to do this,” Fares said. “That’s it. They have zero to say about what we are doing next.”

For Fares, finishing one game means jumping straight into the next. “For me personally, every time a game is out, I’m kind of done with it,” he said. “I’m kind of like, ‘OK, now it’s the next thing,’ but this has been a bit extra special because I would say that it’s been the best-received game we have done.”

While he’s tight-lipped on details about the new project, his energy is clear. “It’s not like we’re feeling now, ‘Oh, shit, how will we top [Split Fiction] or do better than this?’ We just feel like… just wait until [you see] what we do next. I know it’s cocky. But that’s how confident we feel in what we’re doing,” he said.

You can listen to the whole interview here: