Friday the 13th: The Game has sold around 1.8 million copies according to an interview from GameIndustry.biz with one of the game’s developer, Gun Media.
The game was originally released on May 26 after two years of being in development. To fund development of Friday the 13th: The Game, Gun Media and other developer IllFonic opened up a Kickstarter project for the game. The project was backed by over 12,000 people and made over $820,000, according to the game’s Kickstarter page.
Jason Voorhees, the iconic fictional serial killer is featured in the game and controlled by one of the players. The other players in a match team up (or plan against each other) as the survivors, who must find a way to escape before they are slaughtered by Voorhees.
Despite the success of the Kickstarter, the release of Friday the 13th: The Game was hit with heavy server and technical issues that caused an outcry from the community, according to GameInformer.
In his interview to GameIndustry.biz, Gun Media president Wes Keltner said that the reason players were having server and technical issues was that neither IllFonic nor Gun Media were prepared for the amount of players that attempted to log into Friday the 13th: The Game.
“… 100,000 players hit us in the first 20 minutes, and our servers melted. Our first weekend was chaos. The entire team slept at their desks trying to keep up with demand,” said Keltner.
Fans even accused IllFonic of moving on from the game post-launch to begin on Dead Alliance, a zombie shooter set to be released August 29. In response, IllFonic CEO Chuck Brungardt commented on a Reddit thread about IllFonic’s newest game.
“I wanted to address the concerns that IllFonic has abandoned Friday the 13th: The Game for Dead Alliance. This is 100% not true. Most major and independent studios have multiple teams working on multiple projects at the same time,” said Brungardt. “… In addition we are continuing to staff up more team members for continued support of the game. So we assure you, continued support for Friday the 13th: The Game has not been abandoned, in fact, it’s quite the opposite.”
Later in the GameIndustry.biz interview, Keltner said that they are focusing on fixing these issues right away and says that they will continue to be producing content for Friday the 13th: The Game despite rumors that IllFonic was going to focus solely on Dead Alliance.
“Our number one priority right now is stability and squashing bugs. That’s what all of our engineers are focusing on,” said Keltner. “… Players can expect new maps, characters, Easter eggs and other great updates in the near future. I think fans are really going to enjoy what we have planned, as some of this content comes directly from player feedback/requests, while some others are surprises we’ve had up our sleeves for several months now.”
Despite not having the size and experience of a AAA developer, Gun Media and IllFonic put their all into making this game and gave more room to listen to what the fans wanted for Friday the 13th: The Game according to Keltner.
“… We are nimble and we communicate internally very effectively. I’m aware there are huge bonuses to having 300+ people working on a title, but there’s something about having a team of 30 that makes this experience intimate,” said Keltner. “There was nothing about making this game that felt like an assembly line. Which again, I think was what allowed us to be authentic and listen to fans.”
Friday the 13th: The Game was released for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. You can currently find it on Steam for $39.99.
Featured image via Friday the 13th: The Game‘s official Steam page.
