Five Nights at Freddy’s has had a bizarre development cycle for the life of the franchise, and it’s shown in an almost outlandish release schedule for each of the new titles being added to the franchise. Each title landed safely in the arms of Steam, eventually coming to PlayStation as well, which means that they’re doing well with the fanbase that they’ve garnered thus far. The original came out in 2014, and was a favorite for streamers and YouTube hosts alike, playing for hordes of new-found fans; the jump scares work well in a streaming environment, and the storyline scarce enough to allow jump-in viewership without being lost.
The original came out in 2014, being Five Nights at Freddy’s. Then, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 came out also in 2014. 2015 Saw both the third and fourth iteration fo the franchise (creatively named Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 and Five Nights at Freddy’s 4), along with the first novel of the franchise, Five Night at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes.2016 brought out two releases, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location and the first spin-off of the lore, FNaF World.
In 2017, the most recent game of the main franchise was published, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, along with the second novel, Five Night at Freddy’s: The Twisted Ones. 2018 brought one spin-off, called Ultimate Custom Night, and another novel: Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Fourth Closet.
2019 was the busiest year for the developer, bring three spin-offs of the franchise: Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted, Five Nights at Freddy’s AR: Special Delivery, and Freddy in Space 2.
It’s unheard of for a studio to push that many titles that quickly and successively while maintaining their fanbase, yet developers Steel Wool Studios along with Scott Cawthorn somehow made it happen. You could argue that the standard of graphics and gameplay lends itself to rebuilding quickly to push titles out the door, with interactivity being at an all-time low in many of the titles, yet the fact remains that they’re successfully pushing out developed titles at a speed that other studios could only dream of.
One of their recent VR titles that came out early 2019, titled Five Nights At Freddy’s: Help Wanted is considered a spin-off the primary franchise, and hosts a bit more interaction than is the norm for the franchise. ScottGames announced that the VR requirement for the game has just been removed, allowing those without VR systems to continue to explore the bizarre world of jump scares and animatronic tomfoolery.
To be clear, you can still use the VR system if you have one, although fans say it makes the experience infinitely scarier, but you can choose to just use your monitor as well.
The actual question is if this decision was made to help boost sales, as perhaps developer Steel Wool didn’t consider the age demographics they reach isn’t one with the discretionary allowance to merit a VR system purchase, or if the title added such great strides that they want to ensure everyone can experience it.
