The original creator of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise has announced his retirement from game development following a recent controversy that recently began trending online. This comes not long after the first Triple-A title in the series, Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach was delayed as well, meaning that creator Scott Cawthon will be retired by the time it releases.
Fans have quickly begun flocking to Twitter and the Five Night's at Freddy's subreddit to air their feelings about this sudden announcement, both in response to Cawthon's retirement and to the controversy. However, the post announcing the retirement does imply that this was a decision that has been on the table for some time before the recent events, but it is likely that the controversy may have accelerated the situation.
Cawthon announced his retirement on his website, scottgames.com, accompanied with a photo of a piece of fan art that had been sent to him over his seven year career with Five Night's at Freddy's. In the post, Cawthon airs his feelings that he has been debating retiring for some time, noting that the massive success of the franchise and consistent work required to keep producing more content has taken a toll on his family life. Additionally, he claims that he won't be completely gone from the community and that he will hand-pick the successor to carry the torch for the planned future of the Five Night's at Freddy's series.
There is no mention in the post, however, to the recent controversy Cawthon has faced regarding his political activity and campaign donations the developer made during the most recent election. A separate post to Reddit addressed this issue, though the fanbase is still torn about both Cawthon's political contributions and the reasonings given for them. The result is that many fans believe that, while the developer avoided the subject in his farewell, the severity of threats and harassments he received from the controversy might have been what pushed the retirement to happen so soon.
This whole situation from the controversy to the retirement announcement itself has fans now arguing both sides about whether they are happy to see Cawthon go or not. Many of the posts seen on the Five Night's at Freddy's subreddit and trending on twitter with the hashtag #ThankYouScott are positive affirmations wishing the creator a happy retirement or relenting his passing of the torch. However, many fans, especially those of color and in the LGBTQ+ community, believe Cawthon's political contributions to be a betrayal of the members of these marginalized groups that emphatically supported his games.
Source: Scottgames.com, Reddit