Split Fiction Developer Hazelight Studios Has Already Started Work on Its Next Game, Director Says

Studio director Josef Fares said the team was “fully-focussed and excited” about the next game.

Written by Manas Mitul | Updated: 19 March 2025 13:49 IST

Split Fiction Developer Hazelight Studios Has Already Started Work on Its Next Game, Director Says

Photo Credit: EA/ Hazelight Studios

Split Fiction released across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X on March 6

Highlights

Split Fiction is a co-op adventure game meant to be played by two players
Hazelight Studios started work on its next game about a month ago
Josef Fares said the next game was in very early stages of development

Split Fiction developer Hazelight Studios has already started work on its next project. Just two weeks after the release of its latest co-op adventure, the Stockholm-based studio has confirmed its next game is in the very early stages of development. In a recent interview following the launch of Split Fiction, Hazelight director Josef Fares said he was “fully-focussed and excited” about the studio's next title.

Hazelight Working on Its Next Game

Fares shared the information on the Friends Per Second podcast published Monday. The Split Fiction director said the team at Hazelight was happy and excited by the successful launch of the game earlier this month. But Fares is already looking ahead to the next game.

“For me, personally, every time a game is out, I'm kind of done with it. I'm kind of like, ‘Okay, now it's the next thing,'” Fares said on the podcast. “But this has been a bit extra special. I would say that it's been the best-received game we have done, but to be honest, everybody is super happy, but I'm so fully focused and excited on the next thing that we already have started. Just want to say that.”

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The studio director said he couldn't share details about the next game as it was still very early to reveal any information. But Hazelight is known for making co-op games, so the next project could follow the same path. Fares, too, said on the podcast that co-op would always be part of the studio's DNA.

“There's a reason why I can't talk about the next game; it's because it's quite early,” Fares said when asked about Hazelight's next project. “You do know, at Hazelight, we don't work with games more than three or four years. Three or four years is not so far away. Then we're going to talk more about it. I can't talk about it, it's way too early, but just know this: we are very, very, very, very excited here,” he added.

Fares confirmed that work on the next game began around a month ago, just weeks ahead of Split Fiction launch.

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Hazelight's Relationships With EA

The Hazelight founder also talked about the nature of the relationship between the studio and its publishing partner Electronic Arts. All Hazelight games — A Way Out, It Takes Two and Split Fiction — have been published under the EA Originals label. Fares said that Hazelight doesn't pitch its projects to EA.

“EA is a supporter. We don't pitch games to them. We say, ‘We're going to do this.' That's it,” Fares explained. “They have zero, and I mean zero, thing to say about what we're doing next.

“With that said, I have to say they are a good partner. Nobody believes me. Because whatever I say, they're like ‘Yeah, yeah, it's EA.' And look, I don't know anything about what EA are doing to others. Maybe they're f*ing up with other developers. With us, no. They respect us. They respect what we do. And I'm very clear with them that they cannot interfere with what we do. Now, we have become one of their most successful studios,” Fares said.

Split Fiction released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X on March 6. The game has been a critical and commercial success for Hazelight, becoming the highest rated game of 2025 on Metacritic and selling one million copies within 48 hours of launch. Last week, Hazelight confirmed Split Fiction had sold two million copies in its first week.

Split Fiction

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Action-Adventure

Platform PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

PEGI Rating 16+

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Further reading: Split Fiction, Hazelight Studios, Josef Fares, It Takes Two, EA, PC, PS5, Xbox Series

Manas Mitul

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In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about footbal... more »