Hazelight's boss revealed that they never had to pitch a game to EA, and the publisher has zero creative input.
A Way Out, It Takes Two, and Split Fiction sell 13m, 30m, and 7m units, respectively
Just a few days ago bought Split Fiction to play with my 8 year old daughter. We’re having a great time on it. Really good game. So intense haha
Well deserved. I personally think it takes two is better. But they're both great. SO much content, absolutely zero filler. No grinding, no collectables to drag out the game. Just constant new gameplay throughout a very very long game!
Fantastic games. Especially Split Fiction, so I'm very happy for them.
Spoilers for the final level of Split Fiction
The mind-bending, world-blending last level of Split Fiction worked better as a finale than a main course.
VGChartz's Evan Norris: "Some years, it's fairly easy to predict the sort of games that will make the shortlist for Overall Game of the Year. And some years it's surprise after surprise after surprise. 2025 was one of the more unpredictable years, for sure, despite a couple of obvious contenders — Ghost of Yōtei and Split Fiction — being highlighted at The Game Awards 2024. But just look at the remaining finalists. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 came out of nowhere and became an instant classic. Donkey Kong Bananza, the first 3D platformer starring the great ape in 26 years, was first announced in April 2025, just three months before launch. And Hollow Knight: Silksong, which had topped so many fans' wishlists for six-plus years, arrived just two weeks after Team Cherry announced its release date, which sent other indie studios scrambling to delay their titles, for fear of being overshadowed."
Good
It's still a wonder how this studio's been able to avoid EAs nonsense. Hope they keep it that way.
Funny that when a publisher doesn't force a dev to make crazy deadlines, implement terrible monetization, force ideas and follow trends, a good game is actually made 🙄. It's also good they're a smaller company that aren't overambitious and overwhelm their workforce.
Well no wonder he couldn't understand why people hate EA.