{"id":50779,"date":"2025-03-15T10:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T10:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/josef-fares-says-studios-should-stick-to-vision\/"},"modified":"2025-03-15T10:38:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T10:38:03","slug":"josef-fares-says-studios-should-stick-to-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/josef-fares-says-studios-should-stick-to-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Josef Fares says studios should ‘stick to vision’"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Peter Gillibrand and Tom Richardson<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC Newsbeat<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"EA\/HazelightEA\/Hazelight Studios<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Video game director Josef Fares says his studio is “the best in the world” at making co-operative adventures<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Think of video games, and you’ll probably think of something competitive.<\/p>\n

Some of the most popular titles in the world, such as Fortnite and Call of Duty, are focused on outgunning, outrunning or outclassing opponents.<\/p>\n

But, as Josef Fares and his studio Hazelight have shown, that’s not the only thing gamers want.<\/p>\n

His latest, Split Fiction, is a collaborative experience where two players work together to solve puzzles and beat obstacles.<\/p>\n

The adventure game has received rave reviews, sold one million copies in 48 hours and is currently among the most-watched titles on streaming platform Twitch.<\/p>\n

It’s not a one-off. His previous title, It Takes Two, featured similar “couch co-op” gameplay and sold 20 million copies and won a Game of the Year Award.<\/p>\n

What draws players to these friendlier experiences?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"EA\/HazelightEA\/Hazelight<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Collaboration!” – It Takes Two, Hazelight’s previous game, was a smash hit<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A report from analytics company Midia Research found that couch co-op was especially popular among people aged 16 to 24.<\/p>\n

It surveyed 9,000 gamers worldwide, and said roughly 40% of respondents in the age range reported it was their preferred way to play.<\/p>\n

The report said “social play is a key part of gaming for younger consumers,” and suggested more developers could look to incorporate collaborative elements.<\/p>\n

Co-operative games are also big with streamers – watching players bicker as they try to conquer a new title is a great source of viral moments.<\/p>\n

Last year Chained Together, where players work together to escape the depths of hell, was a hit thanks to huge names like Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed getting in on the action.<\/p>\n

Couple Melissa and John, from Middlesbrough, have been uploading clips of themselves playing Split Fiction together to TikTok.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"JohnJohn and Melissa<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Couple John and Melissa say co-op games give them a break from competitive play<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The game centres around fantasy author Zoe and sci-fi writer Mio, who become trapped in simulated versions of their own stories.<\/p>\n

Melissa, a keen reader, says the plot appealed to her, but the chance to team up got her invested. <\/p>\n

“A lot of the time when you play video games you are isolated from other people and it’s just nice to be together, spend that quality time together,” Melissa tells Newsbeat.<\/p>\n

John says popular online games are often very competitive, which can be stressful.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to have to come home tired and have to focus 100% to just be able to do ok at a game,” he says. <\/p>\n

“Whereas this one, I can just sit back, relax and just enjoy the experience.”<\/p>\n

What Hazelight does is unique, but other companies do implement co-op features into their titles.<\/p>\n

Guildford-based Supermassive Games<\/a>, which specialises in “interactive horror movies”, made couch co-op a standard mode in its titles after publishing its breakout hit Until Dawn. <\/p>\n

They found players were going through the single-player title in groups, passing the pad between them as the narrative – which changes based on choices made in-game – progressed.<\/p>\n

Competitive social play is also popular. Some of the best-selling games on Nintendo’s Switch system – Mario Kart 8 and the Mario Party series – are frequently played with mates around the TV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"EA\/HazelightEA\/Hazelight Studios<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Split Fiction follows the story of authors Zoe and Mio, trapped in simulations of their own fantastical worlds<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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In recent years, developers have tried to replicate the success of games like Fortnite – so-called “live service” titles that constantly update and retain players for months, if not years.<\/p>\n

If you get it right, the potential financial rewards are huge, but cutting through in a saturated market is difficult.<\/p>\n

And as the video games industry continues to deal with mass layoffs<\/a>, studio closures and decreased spending on premium games, not many publishers want to take a risk.<\/p>\n

Josef believes there may be too much focus on the bottom line.<\/p>\n

“Publishers need to step up and really trust the developer,” he says.<\/p>\n

“But also developers, I think, need to have a clear vision and stick with what they believe in.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He does admit, though, that not everyone has his studio’s history, nor his personality.<\/p>\n

“I am a – what do you say? – a different breed,” says Josef.<\/p>\n

When he was directing his first game, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, feedback from some early playtests was “super bad”.<\/p>\n

“I’m like, they’re wrong, they’re wrong, because I know it’s great,” he says.<\/p>\n

He’s spoken before about resisting pressure to put micro-transactions – in-game purchases – in his projects, and is uncompromising despite his studio’s close relationship with EA, one of the world’s biggest publishers.<\/p>\n

“I don’t expect everybody to be like me, but that’s me with my extreme confidence,” he says.<\/p>\n

“What we do, I love it.<\/p>\n

“We’re sticking to the vision of what we believe in. Stick with the vision, go with it.<\/p>\n

“And I think if you really love what you do people love it as well.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Listen to Newsbeat live<\/a> at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Peter Gillibrand and Tom Richardson BBC Newsbeat EA\/Hazelight Studios Video game director Josef Fares says his studio is “the best in the world” at making co-operative adventures Think of video games, and you’ll probably think of something competitive. Some of the most popular titles in the world, such as Fortnite and Call of Duty, are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[62],"tags":[6434,16550,5567,761,5248],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50781,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50779\/revisions\/50781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}