Friday The 13th Video Game Gets A Machete To The Head, Will Be Pulled From Sale Later This Year
While Jason Voorhees has been the dominant villain of the "Friday the 13th" franchise, the 2017 video game is now facing a threat that's even more blood-chilling than a knife-wielding psychopath in a hockey mask. What's that, lurking in the woods? Ch-ch-ch, ah-ah-ah ... oh god, no, anything but that — it's a looming license expiration!
The makers of Friday the 13th: The Game have announced (via Bloody-Disgusting) that their license for the property is set to expire on December 31, 2023, after which point the game will no longer be for sale either physically or digitally. Gamers will still be able to buy the game until the end of this year (at a discounted rate, no less), and the game will continue to function for at least another full year.
This isn't the first time the game has been marred by legal troubles: In 2018, only a year after it came out, the folks at Gun Interactive announced that a lawsuit regarding the future of the entire "Friday the 13th" franchise meant they had 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."
Now there's a ticking clock on the remainder of its playability (at least the online component), as it will be receiving a killing blow in January 2025.
Yet another reminder that physical media is vital
I'm not a huge gamer, but I've experienced something similar before: One day, the online mode of NBA 2K20 suddenly stopped working, effectively ending an ongoing season I was playing and fully erasing my customized character. (Heartbreaking stuff, I know.) Friday the 13th: The Game was first envisioned as a purely multiplayer experience, but a single-player mode was rolled out in an update after its initial release; at this time, it's unclear if players who retain the physical edition of the game will be able to play the single-player mode indefinitely, or if they'll end up just as heartbroken as I was.
The official statement revealing the news says that for the remainder of the game's availability, the price will be lowered to $4.99 for the base game and $0.99 for each piece of downloadable content.
— Friday The 13th Game (@Friday13thGame) June 8, 2023
This is the latest example that, despite the illusion of permanence, the entertainment we seek out is often a fleeting thing that can be yanked away at any time due to things like licensing contracts and corporate decision-making. In recent years, we've seen several instances of streaming services unceremoniously yanking films and shows off their platforms with no promise that they would pop up anywhere else, leaving only those with physical releases able to access them. This Friday the 13th: The Game news proves that no corner of the entertainment industry is safe from projects vanishing into thin air.
As for the future of the "Friday the 13th" franchise in other media, the verdict of the aforementioned lawsuit opened the door for Bryan Fuller to make a Peacock show called "Crystal Lake," and there appears to be a chance of a new movie at some point (something that's basically been a non-starter for the past decade-plus).