All in all, that’s 50 million total sales in a little over eight years. Not bad for a studio that’s focused exclusively on narrative-driven co-op titles with reasonable price points and Friend’s Passes. And while it remains secretive, Hazelight Studios said it “can’t wait to show you our fourth game…”

The theory that it potentially features three characters comes from an image of actors in mo-cap suits, waving to the camera, while director Josef Fares hides their faces. Ever the ambitious individual, he promised that the studio’s next title would be even better than Split Fiction. If you’ll remember, he said the same for the latter compared to It Takes Two (and pretty much met those expectations).

In the meantime, check out our review for Split Fiction. It’s available for PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S.

Perhaps the most notable element of Fares’s image is that there are three actors, seemingly teasing more than two main characters. A Way Out, It Takes Two (obviously), and Split Fiction have focused on two-player co-op to date. Could Hazelight potentially be experimenting with a third wheel? It would certainly be ambitious, but then again, it may be too early to say for sure.

Regardless, it’s likely to be an even bigger success, especially following the release of Split Fiction. The critically acclaimed action-adventure sold four million units as of May 2025 and received four nominations at The Game Awards. It even came in third place for the Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards.

The story follows two writers, Mio and Zoe, who meet at Rader Publishing and connect to a strange machine that brings their stories to life in a virtual reality. However, things take a turn, and the two end up in each other’s spaces, as they experience sci-fi, fantasy and other tales together. It’s available on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch 2.

Taking a closer look at software sales for the month of December, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 took the lead, with Battlefield 6 being ranked third. Other titles in the best-seller charts for the month are a mix of newer games like Donkey Kong Bananza and older titles like Grand Theft Auto 5, Minecraft and Red Dead Redemption 2.

While other console makers might have started struggling with console sales last year, Nintendo has been doing quite well with the release of the Switch 2. Piscatella had confirmed, the Switch 2 ended up being the best-selling console of the year in the US, with the country accounting for 4.4 million units. Along with this, the new console is also noted as selling faster than the original Switch from back in 2017.

As he noted, the Switch 2’s hardware sales single-handedly managed to offset industry-wide downward trends in console hardware sales. Sony’s PS5 ranked second for the period. The Switch 2 has also been described by Piscatella as being the “fastest selling video game console hardware platform” in history so far.

While things might be going well for Nintendo for the time being, research firm Niko Partners has predicted that the company will end up raising the price of the Switch 2 thanks to the worldwide memory shortages affecting manufacturing. The firm noted that, while the Switch 2 is priced competitively when compared to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo might have to bring its latest console in line with its competitors to maintain profitability.

In the meantime, Battlefield Studios has been working hard on creating and testing more content for the upcoming second season of Battlefield 6. While it hasn’t yet revealed too many details aside from its February 17 launch date, the developers provided a few hints about what kind of content we can expect when Season 2 of Battlefield 6 is kicked off.

Among the new content coming to the game is a brand new map, dubbed Contagion, that will also feature its own unique gameplay mechanics. No details have been provided about these mechanics, aside from vague hints about players needing to use equipment to interact with them, a soldier wearing a gas mask in the teaser trailer, and the fact that the map’s name implies some sort of contagious infection will be involved.

Battlefield 6 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review from back when it first came out.

2025 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T14:00:07.506Z

December 2025 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T14:00:07.505Z

“There are a lot of great people at EA. They know how we work. They respect it and they leave us be,” Fares said. “Let’s be honest, there’s not a publisher in the world that hasn’t f***ed up now and then. Sometimes I feel that EA is getting more s*** than they deserve. I mean, come on, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, everybody’s done something that’s not good. But for some reason, EA has become this bad guy.”

As for Hazelight Studio’s relationship with EA, Fares said that working together has been beneficial for both companies. While he acknowledged that EA has made its share of mistakes, the relationship between publisher and studio is still great.

“For us, it’s a super good collaboration. I’m very open about. If it was bad, I would’ve said that in this interview as well. But we have a great relationship. I’m not saying that they haven’t done any mistakes like every other publisher,” he said. “All the people I am surrounded with at EA are gamers. They love games. It’s not like I’m sitting with corporate people with suits. It’s not like that. And people should not worry, because Hazelight will do always what it wants.”

In the same interview, Fares had also spoken about the rise of high-quality AA games in the industry, and how he hopes it doesn’t become yet another trend that publishers try to chase. While these smaller-scale games are great, he noted that you can’t really make something as ambitious as a new Grand Theft Auto on a budget of $10 million. Rather, he hopes the industry finds a balance for all kinds of games to exist.

“You do hear, after the success of things like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, that the AA games are taking over,” he said. “But I would not be able to live without a AAA title. I really want to play the blockbuster games. You can’t do GTA for $10 million. We need both. It’s important not to get stuck in ideas, like AA is a new thing, or indie is a new thing, or ‘blah, blah, blah’ is a new thing. We need the diversity. I hope that publishers don’t just look at a game like Expedition, which has been super successful, and think, ‘oh, AA is a new thing. Let’s only do that.’ I don’t believe in that. You had a huge amount of AA games that came this year, which nobody cared about. Let’s remember that.”

Fares also spoke about the next game being developed at Hazelight Studios, which he went on to note that will be even better than last year’s Split Fiction. Going into more detail, he also discussed how the studio’s philosophy “to keep f***ing s*** up,” also has to be pulled off responsibility.

Split Fiction is available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. For more details, check out our review.

He acknowledged that, while they are great games, you can’t really make something like a new Grand Theft Auto with a budget of $10 million. He noted that the industry needs games of all kinds and expressed hope that the industry doesn’t jump on the AA game bandwagon in the future.

“You do hear, after the success of things like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, that the AA games are taking over,” he said. “But I would not be able to live without a AAA title. I really want to play the blockbuster games. You can’t do GTA for $10 million. We need both. It’s important not to get stuck in ideas, like AA is a new thing, or indie is a new thing, or ‘blah, blah, blah’ is a new thing. We need the diversity. I hope that publishers don’t just look at a game like Expedition, which has been super successful, and think, ‘oh, AA is a new thing. Let’s only do that.’ I don’t believe in that. You had a huge amount of AA games that came this year, which nobody cared about. Let’s remember that.”

When the concept of risk vs reward came up, with Dring noting that it’s often harder for games with AAA budgets to take major risks, Fares brought up studios like Naughty Dog that are using their massive budgets to push the creative envelope in different ways. He argued that it is possible to develop AAA games that also take risks to a certain extent. He did, however, acknowledge that incredibly large budgets (for example, $100 million) might make risk-taking a more difficult proposition for companies.

“I would argue that, actually, Naughty Dog is pushing the envelope of innovation with a AAA budget,” he counters. “I would argue Rockstar is doing it. Nintendo is, most of the time, doing it. So you can do a big AAA title but also take innovative risks. But once you go over a $100 million budget, you’re going to be like, ‘okay, s***. There’s a lot of money on the table’. People are more scared. It’s understandable. But it’s proven that you can do it.”

Fares spoke about how his own studio, Hazelight Studios, likes to take risks. He noted that the studio’s ethos is to “f*** s*** up” while still being careful about the responsibilities towards its employees.

“The f*** s*** up mentality, without f***ing up, is important, because we take things to the next level,” he said. “We can explore. If you are limited, because of risk and being scared, it’s not good for the game. So, for us, it will always be like that, whatever the budget.”

“With that said, obviously, there’s a responsibility. People need money to pay the rent, and there’s a responsibility to who’s paying for the budget, and to actually deliver the milestone, to do a great game, to not slack, to do something really well.”

Split Fiction is available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. For more details, check out our review.

“I don’t even know this word ‘pressure’. I feel extremely confident of everything we’re doing. I can easily say that our next game is better than Split Fiction,” he said. “We’re on a good path. Hazelight is a very respected studio that people look up to and get inspired by. And the key thing is to keep f***ing s*** up.”

As for the risks often taken in game development, Hazelight Studios’ ethos has been described by Fares as being to “f*** s*** up”. He further explained that the studio isn’t afraid to take risks, regardless of what constraints might be placed on it due to budgets. This mentality, he said, goes hand-in-hand with the studio managing its real-world responsibilities as well.

“The f*** s*** up mentality, without f***ing up, is important, because we take things to the next level,” he says. “We can explore. If you are limited, because of risk and being scared, it’s not good for the game. So, for us, it will always be like that, whatever the budget.”

“With that said, obviously, there’s a responsibility. People need money to pay the rent, and there’s a responsibility to who’s paying for the budget, and to actually deliver the milestone, to do a great game, to not slack, to do something really well.”

Fares described how the studio goes further by simply removing its limitations from developers. He noted that many stumbles in creative works tend to arise from the limitations people have placed on themselves, with many of these limitations coming from their own minds.

“It’s easier said than done because people put a lot of limitations on themselves, and it’s mainly coming from their mind,” he said. “Once you stop listening to that, s*** will start happening. And how do you do it? Well, first, you practically push that person… in a nice way, obviously. You say, ‘not this’, ‘let’s do that’. ‘That’s been done before, let’s try this way’. And eventually they come into this ‘f*** s*** up’ mentality where they’re like, ‘okay, there are no limits’. And then you make that person feel confident that there really are no limits. People have so many possibilities inside them, and that’s not only for creating games, but in general. It’s just, stop listening to this [points to head] and just feel it instead.”

Split Fiction was released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch last year. The title has proven to be a hit, with the company confirming back in May that it had already sold 4 million copies before its Switch release. For more details about the co-op-only action adventure game, check out our review.

Developer Hazelight Studios has announced that Split Fiction has now sold 4 million copies worldwide across all platforms since releasing a couple of months ago. That’s up from 2 million units sold in the game’s first week, which means it has maintained impressive momentum and doubled its sales in the time since then.

Meanwhile, Haelight Studios has already started working on its next project, while a movie based on Split Fiction is also reportedly in the works. 

Split Fiction is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and launches for the Nintendo Switch on June 5. Read our review of the game through here.

Several major third-party multiplatform games that have been previously elsewhere were officially announced for the Switch 2. That includes the likes of Split Fiction, Star Wars Outlaws, Civilization 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Wild Hearts, Two Point Museum, and Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. Separately, Sega also announced Sonic X Shadow Generations for the upcoming Nintendo console. 

Split Fiction, Civilization 7, Hogwarts Legacy, and Kunitsu-Gami will be available for the Switch 2 on launch day, which is June 5, while Wild Hearts will arrive later that month, on July 25. Meanwhile, Two Point Museum, Sonic X Shadow Generations, and Star Wars Outlaws will all launch before the end of 2025. 

That isn’t the extent of confirmed third-party support for the Switch 2 either. Several major games have been confirmed, including Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Hitman: World of Assassination and Project 007, Borderlands 4, Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut, and others.  

While offers are coming through from various Hollywood studios, the production is being led by Story Kitchen, which is reportedly putting together a cast and crew for the movie, including writers and a director. In light of this, neither Split Fiction developer Hazelight Studios, nor Story Kitchen have made any statements or announcement.

For some context about Story Kitchen, the company is also working with developer Sandfall Interactive on a movie adaptation of upcoming turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

As for Split Fiction, Hazelight showed off the critical acclaim the title got in an accolades trailer released earlier this month. The title also sold quite well, with the studio taking to social media to celebrate the fact that it had sold 2 million copies of the game in its first week alone.

Split Fiction is a co-op adventure game where two players take on the role of Zoe and Mio. Both of the girls get trapped in a simulation, and must work together to figure out how to escape. Along the way, the duo will have to deal with various fantasy and sci-fi-themed challenges that are brought to life thanks to either of their interests in the genres.

Most recently, a pair of speedrunners were able to finish a secret level in the game that director Josef Fares described as being challenging enough that only a few members of the development team had been able to clear it. On finishing this level, the duo were met with a video featuring Fares congratulating them on their achievement, and inviting them to Hazelight’s offices for a sneak peak at the studio’s next game.

“Wow, amazing,” said Fares in the video. “You have to understand that there are barely people on our team that can make it. It took us a lot of time to finish it. And I’m telling you that this is a crazy, crazy achievement that you have done.”

“I’m going to say one thing,” Fares continued. “If you see me in real life, somewhere, and you can prove to me that you actually did this challenge, I can promise you, the first one to do that, I’m going to fly you to Sweden and show you footage of our next game.”

In the meantime, Fares had also revealed earlier this month that the studio had already begun working on its next game. Speaking on a podcast, Fares said that the success of Split Fiction is driving the development team to want to do even better with its next outing.

“To tell you this, we’ve been talking about this a lot, we in the team really really feel like ‘oh, they really like this so much,’” said Fares. “We can do way better. That’s the funny part. It’s not like we’re feeling now ‘how will we top this’ or ‘do better than this’. We just feel, just wait till what we do next, you know.”

Split Fiction is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Check out our review for more details.

What makes the level particularly interesting is the fact that a video plays at the end featuring game director Josef Fares. In the video, Fares congratulates the players on completing the level, going as far as to say that only a few members of the development team were able to complete it.

“Wow, amazing,” says Fares in the video. “You have to understand that there are barely people on our team that can make it. It took us a lot of time to finish it. And I’m telling you that this is a crazy, crazy achievement that you have done.”

Fares also goes on to tell people that might be watching this post-level video through YouTube to go play the game instead in order to really understand how challenging the level is. He caps the message off by saying that, if the players can prove that they finished the video, they will be personally invited to Sweden to take a look at the next game that is currently in development at Hazelight.

“And I’m not talking to you guys who are looking at this on YouTube. If you see this on YouTube, you should go to the game,” Fares continues. “It’s a really hard challenge. But for those of you who are actually in the game seeing this video, I am super amazed.”

“I’m going to say one thing. If you see me in real life, somewhere, and you can prove to me that you actually did this challenge, I can promise you, the first one to do that, I’m going to fly you to Sweden and show you footage of our next game.”

Fares has since also mentioned that he will be keeping this promise through a post on social media platform X, once again congratulating the two players in the process.

“Congrats to ‘sharkOvO’ and ‘E1uM4y’ for finishing the secret challenge ‘Laser Hell’ in Split Fiction,” posted Fares on X. “VERY impressive! I will keep my promise and invite you both to Sweden for an early look of our next game. We’ll be in touch!”

Split Fiction is a co-op game that was recently released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The game was incredibly successful, selling a million copies in its first 48 hours, and then going to sell 2 million copies in its first week. For more details about the title, check out our review.

Fares has also revealed that the studio has started working on its next game in the wake of Split Fiction‘s release. On a podcast, Fares said that he was “super, super excited.” No other details about this next title have been revealed so far, but going by Hazelight’s history, it might also be a co-op game.

Congrats to ”sharkOvO” and ”E1uM4y” for finishing the secret challenge ”Laser Hell” in #splitficton. VERY impressive! I will keep my promise and invite you both to Sweden for an early look of our next game😎

We´ll be in touch!

— Josef Fares (@josef_fares) March 19, 2025