Split Fiction and It Takes Two developer Hazelight Studios will never put microtransactions in its games, according to director Josef Fares.
In an interview with MinnMax, Fares also said that Hazelight Studios isn’t available for bigger publishers to buy it out. “Hazelight is not for sale. I mean, we will always do what we do, and we love what to do period,” Fares explained. “And we will never be on the stock market as well; get that in, period. And we will never have microtransactions, bullshit, no shit, just make games. Period.”
Recently, Fares also said that Hazelight won’t make live-service games either. Microtransactions are common to in live-service games, as studios and publishers who make them want a recurring stream of revenue.
Microtransactions can seem appealing, as players are offered a constant stream of new content such as cosmetics. However, players have expressed concern that microtransactions have gotten out of hand, as they feel like they’re being squeezed for every bit of cash.
Hazelight specializes in co-op games, and their games are consumer friendly in that they often offer a Friend Pass so that only one person needs to purchase Split Fiction in order to play with another.
Ironically, all of Hazelight’s games so far have been published by Electronic Arts, whose CEO said that AI will drive microtransaction sales. Electronic Arts has made billions in the past through microtransactions.
Split Fiction launches on March 6 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
