Jason Vorhees might be able to smash through doors with his Rage ability, but Friday the 13th: The Game has found itself pinned down by a legal dispute. Developer IllFonic’s asymmetrical multiplayer game won’t be getting any new content until a lawsuit about the rights to the original Friday the 13th has been resolved.
Though IllFonic and publisher Gun Media aren’t the target of the case; they are tangentially affected because the rights to the movie are in limbo. The movie’s screenwriter, Victor Miller, is taking Horror, Inc. and Manny Company, the production company that owns the rights to the movie, to court in an attempt to reclaim ownership of the intellectual property.
“When we originally learned that the game fell within the crosshairs of this legal dispute, we tried to balance the creation of new content requested by our fans against the maintenance and bug fixing that our community expects and deserves. We attempted to do both within the limits of the legal case,” said Friday the 13th: The Game’s publisher Gun Media in an email statement. “We’ve now been forced to accept that the lawsuit makes future content for the game, including alternate play modes, new playable Jasons and counselors, and new maps, unfeasible now or in the future.”
Jason Vorhees is an iconic horror villain, and IllFonic’s game sold over 1.8 million copies within its first three months. In Friday the 13th: The Game, seven people play camp counselors running from one player who’s Jason, the main villain from the Friday the 13th movie franchise. While avoiding detection, the counselors must secure their exit by finishing tasks such as finding fuel for a car or calling the police.
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Since the game’s launch in May 2017, it has steadily rolled out new content, like new maps, playable characters, and different versions of Jason from his various movie incarnations. Because of the legal battle, it is now putting on pause its upcoming updates, which included more counselors, Uber Jason, the Grendel map, cosmetic items, emotes, and Jason Kill Packs, which enable players to use unique executions when they play as the killer.
