Even though we have the unfortunate situation that is the Friday the 13th film franchise being left in a state of legal limbo to deal with, fans of Jason Voorhees have at least had something to enjoy in recent memory. Thanks to a seriously bloody video game, one of horror’s greatest icons has been resurrected in an immersive experience, with Killer Puzzle also satisfying those of you who dig mobile gaming.
Unfortunately, this legal crapstorm has made its way over to the side of interactive entertainment, as you may have heard that Friday the 13: The Game is no longer permitted to create new content. There may have already been much for players to sink their teeth into, sure, but we all knew that more DLC was on the way, so the embargo came as quite the gut punch.
Likewise, Killer Puzzle is being subjected to the same restrictions, which have been explained by Blue Wizard on Twitter and compiled by Bloody Disgusting into a coherent statement:
“We were trying to be sneaky and tease a special surprise update for Friday, July 13, but some people are getting freaked out because of the recent legal issues around the Gun game. We don’t want to confuse anyone or create trouble, so we’ll clarify a bit what’s happening! Yes, on July 13 we are releasing an update with a new Jason avatar you can earn for free by completing a special challenge. Let’s just say it’s never a good idea to hike by yourself. Yes, we are under the same legal restrictions as the Gun team on new content for our game. Nobody is lying or using that as an excuse to ‘quit’ working on the game.”
As for how they’ll be able to make new surprises available, it was revealed how they were able to get around the legal mess for the time being:
“For contractual reasons, January 22, 2018 was our deadline for creating new content for our game. As that deadline approached, we completed a few Jason avatars that we inserted in the game but disabled. We were hopeful that the legal issues would be quickly resolved, but… We wanted a few ‘secrets’ we could release later without breaching our contract if the worst-case legal scenario came to pass (as it has). No, we don’t have tons of secret content hidden away in the code… just a few cool surprises for our fans. Like Gun and other F13 fans, we’re hoping the lawsuit gets settled or resolved as soon as possible so everyone can enjoy more Jason! We are continuing with bug fixing and technical upgrades to the game, but are hopeful things can get settled so we can do much more in the future!”
There you have it: the developers behind Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle are able to release some additional content because, technically, it was already there! Based on that, I must applaud Blue Wizard for having the foresight to have a contingency plan in place.
Published: Jul 6, 2018 11:17 am