Ten years after Josef Fares founded his development company with a strict focus on multiplayer experiences, the studio’s next chapter is finally coming into focus. Hazelight Studios is preparing to launch a new cooperative adventure titled “Split Fiction” on March 6, 2025. Following a series of cryptic social media posts and high-profile industry leaks during the company’s anniversary in October 2024, the developer behind the award-winning “It Takes Two” is returning to its roots. The upcoming title will blend science fiction and fantasy, requiring two players to escape a simulated reality together.
The 10-Year Anniversary Tease and Title Leak
In October 2024, the development team celebrated its tenth anniversary by dropping careful hints about a brand new intellectual property. The studio posted a retrospective on their official social media channels, confirming they were working on new material that they could not wait to show the public later in the year. Fans immediately began speculating about a potential sequel to their previous hits, but the studio quickly clarified that this project was something entirely original.
The mystery did not last long. Prominent industry leaker billbil-kun from Dealabs revealed that the title of the next project would allegedly be Split Fiction. This leak gained serious traction when Josef Fares, the outspoken founder and creative director of Hazelight, decided to address the rumors in his own unique way. He posted a photograph of a physical script on X, with the title partially redacted to read “S**** ******” on the cover page.
I’m getting a lot of questions about the next game. Here is a tease. It’s a brand new IP called S**** ******. Can’t wait to show it.
This calculated tease perfectly matched the character count of the leaked title, confirming what many fans already suspected. The playful interaction between the leaked information and the studio’s official response generated significant buzz, setting the stage for a proper reveal. It also confirmed that Hazelight was sticking to its core philosophy of building games that require two people to sit down and solve problems together.
Sci-Fi Meets Fantasy on a Shared Screen
The game places players into the shoes of two writers named Mio and Zoe, who find themselves trapped within a simulation of their own stories. This narrative setup allows the development team to get incredibly creative with the environments and challenges you will face. Mio writes science fiction, while Zoe crafts fantasy stories, meaning their digital prison is a chaotic mix of both genres.
To break out of the simulation, these two contrasting characters have to work together across boundaries that normally never mix. This dynamic means you might find yourself commanding dragons in one scenario while your partner is swinging laser swords to clear a path. The mechanics are built entirely around this clash of themes, forcing players to combine magic and technology to solve complex environmental puzzles.
The title itself hints at a potential mechanic involving dynamic split-screen layouts. In past games, Hazelight has constantly played with the physical dividing line on the television, moving it horizontally, vertically, or removing it entirely based on what the story demands. Because Split Fiction involves two very different realities crashing into each other, the visual divide between the two players will likely play a major role in how the game feels and functions.
Players can expect several unique elements throughout the campaign:
- Constantly changing abilities tied to specific levels and themes
- Cooperative boss fights requiring precise timing and communication
- A mix of high-tech gadgetry and traditional fantasy magic
- An exclusive focus on cooperative multiplayer with no single-player option
Bringing Back the Friend’s Pass With EA Originals
Hazelight is sticking with Electronic Arts to publish the title, ensuring their consumer-friendly multiplayer access returns intact. The game will be published under the EA Originals label, continuing a long-standing partnership that has produced some of the most successful independent titles of the last decade. This relationship has allowed the studio to maintain its creative independence while benefiting from a major publisher’s marketing reach.
The most important feature returning for this release is the popular Friend’s Pass system. This consumer-friendly approach allows one player who buys the game to invite a friend to join the adventure for free, entirely removing the financial barrier for your co-op partner. Your friend simply downloads a specific client version of the game, accepts your invite, and plays through the entire campaign without spending a dime.
The studio has also confirmed that the game will support cross-platform play at launch. This means you will experience smooth cooperation between players on different systems, allowing a PC player to team up easily with someone on a living room console. In a market where coordinating hardware choices with friends can be frustrating, this universal compatibility is a major selling point for a game that literally cannot be played alone.
| Game Title | Release Year | Core Mechanic |
|---|---|---|
| A Way Out | 2018 | Prison break split-screen |
| It Takes Two | 2021 | Genre-shifting platforming |
| Split Fiction | 2025 | Reality blending puzzle-solving |
Why the Studio Refuses to Build Single-Player Games
Since its inception in 2014, Hazelight has maintained a strict refusal to include a single-player mode in any of their releases. While other developers often tack on an artificial intelligence partner for solo players, Fares has always argued that true cooperative design requires two human minds working in tandem. If a puzzle can be solved by an automated bot following your character around, it isn’t a real co-op puzzle.
That rigid design philosophy sounded risky ten years ago, but the numbers prove it works. By October 2024, their previous release, It Takes Two, had sold over 20 million units globally. That commercial performance proved that forcing players to find a real human partner was not a limitation, but rather the game’s biggest strength. The title went on to win Game of the Year, cementing the studio’s reputation for quality.
The wider industry is starting to pay attention to this specific genre. According to a 2023 Global Games Market Report by Newzoo, cooperative games have seen a notable resurgence in both the independent and mid-budget sectors. The report explicitly identifies Hazelight as a market leader in narrative-driven multiplayer, pointing out that players are increasingly looking for ways to connect socially through shared interactive stories rather than competitive shooters.
Whether you prefer the sharp edges of science fiction or the magical landscapes of fantasy, the upcoming launch of #SplitFiction proves that shared couch experiences are still thriving. It shows that #HazelightStudios understands exactly what players want from a cooperative journey, trusting that two friends sitting together will always be the best way to tell a story.
