The creator of Five Nights At Freddy's, Scott Cawthon, was met with immense controversy recently at the revelation of his past political donations. Most notably, Cawthon's sizeable donations to Donald Trump and various other Republican lawmakers received intense criticism. After these donations surfaced on Twitter, Cawthon initially responded with an extensive Reddit post detailing his motives and political affiliations. Many fans felt betrayed by where some of the money generated by the game ended up, with many others defending the creator. The revelation has fractured the Five Nights at Freddy's fandom in its wake.
Since those donations surfaced, Cawthon announced his retirement from the series. This move shocked many, as this retirement came before Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach's release later this year, which would be the franchise's first triple-A title. Cawthon's website is now host to just a retirement message to all of his fans, and while it doesn't explicitly mention the recent controversy, the fallout from it likely impacted the decision. Cawthon's official reasoning was wanting to go back to developing games for his own kids, but the looming shadow of two huge trending Twitter hashtags dissecting his political leanings probably also had some influence.
Why Five Nights At Freddy's Fans Were Upset
Five Nights at Freddy's has an undeniably huge fanbase. This fandom is not just those who play the game, but the millions who tune in to the thousands of Let's Plays of the series on YouTube and Twitch. Unsurprisingly, many of these fans are also LGBTQIA+. As such, these fans and many alongside them were unhappy to learn that the Five Nights at Freddy's creator donated thousands of dollars to various politicians with less than stellar voting records on progressive issues. Included among this auspicious group of political actors was former President Donald J. Trump, featuring alongside Mitch McConnell and Devin Nunes.
Twitter users discovered Scott Cawthon's donations through a public domain website OpenSecrets. The site lists the political donations made to various parties and candidates. In 2020 alone, Cawthon donated $25,399 to various Republican candidates, not to mention the $2500 donation to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in August 2020. With a $2000 donation to Trump in 2019, that's 30 thousand dollars donated in two years.
Cawthon's First Response
Cawthon took to the Five Nights at Freddy's fan subreddit (or "Freddit," as fans often call it) to rebuke claims that he was homophobic due to these donations. Cawthon reaffirmed his stance as a conservative, and stated that while some other candidates may have catered to the LGBT community more "directly," these "other" candidates "would have ended up doing much greater harm to those communities than good."
Of course, this response is particularly interesting when put against the political actions of the candidates Cawthon supported. For many LGBTQ+ gamers, $5000 donations towards Mitch McConnell, who blocked a vote against Trump's ban on transgender military personnel and voted against federal protections for LGBTQ+ people in workplaces, do not constitute doing "good" for the communities in question.
This response from Cawthon at least confirmed what the list of donations meant to many LGBTQ+ fans. Many originally speculated that his account was hacked, or the list was faked, as the amounts donated looked slightly strange. Cawthon, however, put those ideas firmly to rest with his post, confirming the exact donations made to candidates and why he made them. It is worth noting that the Five Nights at Freddy's developer did, in fact, donate to a Democrat back in 2019, namely Tulsi Gabbard. Interestingly, Gabbard is among several Democrats often criticized by the LGBTQ+ community, most recently thanks to an anti-trans athlete bill she brought to congress.
Scott Cawthon's Retirement
When announcing the retirement on his website, Cawthon did not detail the recent controversy as a driving factor. He did, however, refer to it in a veiled way, discussing the recent outpouring of support he received in the past week. In his statement, the developer reflected on the seven years of astronomic success the series has had. Despite this success, he stated that he wanted to retire to focus on the things he did before Five Nights at Freddy's became a breakout success.
This includes designing RPGs and making games for his children. In general, the post has a much gentler tone than Cawthon's original response on Reddit. Whatever the case may be, it seems like Cawthon has been considering giving up the mantle as FNaF's creative lead for a little while now, and this most recent controversy merely sped up the process.
What's Next For Five Nights At Freddy's?
Well, unlike its creator, the franchise of horror games for a younger audience is not retiring any time soon. In the retirement statement, Cawthon outlined vague plans for another creative lead to take over the franchise and direct it. According to the statement on Cawthon's website, there will be an announcement soon with regards the future of the franchise. With many new projects like the Five Nights at Freddy's movie in the works, the series taking on a new creative lead might be very interesting indeed.
Ultimately, the money Cawthon earned from Five Nights at Freddy's success funded his political donations. Over $30,000 of profits from the series went into the pockets of politicians acting against the interests of LGBTQ+ people across America. However, this influence does not necessarily go both ways. The largely apolitical Five Nights at Freddy's does not carry an outwardly Republican message, but profits from future FNaF media will still likely go to its original creator. So, it is now up to LGBTQ+ fans of the game and their allies to decide what extent, if any, they still want to support the franchise.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach will release late 2o21.