The success of cult hit Five Nights at Freddy's from developer Scott Cawthon is almost entirely attributable to the franchise's obsessed fanbase. Their dedication to supporting the Five Nights at Freddy's games, Cawthon himself, as well as the flourishing community surrounding the games, is invaluable. Cawthon himself acknowledges this, and now he's acting on it. This past Friday, Cawthon announced the Fazbear Fanverse Initiative to fund fan-created games spun off of Five Nights at Freddy's.
Cawthon says that he is going to be paying out of his own pocket to support the development of several community-made Five Nights at Freddy's spin-offs. As for why he's doing this, Cawthon simply states that "I want to see them keep going." And while Cawthon doesn't explicitly state it, it's implied that the game developers will also be paid for the completion of their work, as well as share in their games' profits.
That's because the Fazbear Fanverse Initiative isn't just a funding effort. It's also a product. While each of the fan games will eventually be released individually on GameJolt for free, just like Five Nights at Freddy's fangames usually are, they'll also be bundled together and released on consoles and mobile. Cawthon also says that he's planning on potentially selling toys and other merchandise for the fan games, too.
The five games that Cawthon says he's funding, to start, include Five Nights at Candy's 4, The Joy of Creation: Ignited Collection, Popgoes Evergreen, One Night at Flumpty's 3, and a re-imagining of the original Five Nights at Freddy's from Phisnom. Cawthon does say that he's planning on adding "other games from the same series" to the Fazbear Fanverse Initiative bundle, too. Fans will have to wait to hear exactly what those extra games will be.
For the time being, Cawthon says that development continues. He specifically notes that there are some older fan games that reused copyrighted assets, which obviously isn't acceptable for a product that's going to be sold for a profit. As such, some developers are having to go back and replace all the reused assets with entirely new assets, or remake their older games entirely. So Cawthon's saying that even some of the classic games may be worth revisiting to see what's been changed or upgraded.
Finally, because it's what Five Nights at Freddy's does so well, Cawthon encourages fans to show support for each of the games' creators and the project. Cawthon wants the Fazbear Fanverse Initiative to "turn into something cool," hinting that if it's successful then even more fan games can be added in the future.
The Fazbear Fanverse Initiative is coming to consoles and mobile.