Hazelight Praises EA as 'Good Partner' Amid Next Game Development

Hazelight director Josef Fares recently provided clarity on his studio's relationship with EA and announced that the team behind It Takes Two and Split Fiction is already working on their next project. In an interview on the Friends Per Second podcast, Fares, known for his candid remarks including the infamous "f*** the Oscars" line, discussed Hazelight’s past achievements and future plans.

Fares mentioned that while Split Fiction, their latest critically acclaimed co-op adventure, has been incredibly well-received, his focus has swiftly shifted to the next endeavor. "For me, personally, every time a game is out, I’m kind of done with it. I’m kind of like, ‘OK, here’s the next thing,'" he explained. He emphasized that although Split Fiction has been the best-received game they've produced, the team is already buzzing with excitement over their new project, which they started working on about a month ago.

Despite the early stage of development, Fares couldn't share many details about the new game. He noted that Hazelight typically doesn't spend more than three or four years on a project, hinting that more information will be available in the near future. "There is a reason why I can’t talk about the next game; it’s because it’s quite early," he said, adding, "You do know, at Hazelight, we don’t work on [a] game more than three or four years. Three or four years is not so far away. Then we’re going to talk more about it."

Regarding their relationship with publisher EA, Fares clarified that EA has been a supportive partner without any influence over the games Hazelight chooses to develop. "Here’s the thing, people don’t understand this: EA is a supporter. We don’t pitch games to them," he stated. "We say, ‘We’re going to do this.’ That’s it. They have zero, and I mean zero, thing to say about what we’re doing next." Fares praised EA as a good partner, despite the company's mixed reputation in the industry, and affirmed that EA respects Hazelight's creative autonomy.

Split Fiction has not only garnered high praise from critics, with IGN giving it a 9/10 in their review, but it has also achieved remarkable sales success. The game sold 1 million copies in just 48 hours and 2 million copies within a week, surpassing the sales pace of its predecessor, It Takes Two, which had reached 20 million copies sold by October 2024.