Last Updated on April 1, 2022 by Mark P.
If you’re a big fan of the Friday the 13th video game, unfortunately we have some bad news for you, whether you play it on Xbox One, PC or PlayStation. Publisher Gun Media has announced that, effective as of this month’s patch, dedicated servers will no longer be run or supported. That’s right, they’re shutting down. This change will have the game revert back to peer-to-peer matchmaking for quick play lobbies. While multiplayer servers are shutting down, you don’t have to worry about your progression and unlocks, as database servers will stay active so that both of those can still be accessed in quick play and private matches.
Ironically, the upcoming final patch will make a bunch of fixes from a long list of issues raised by the game’s community, while also shutting down multiplayer servers. Finalized patch notes will be released in the week prior to the patch going live. All in all, it’s a weird combination of both good and bad news.
Official forums will be archived in a locked state. Meanwhile, official channels for the game will be kept to a minimal approach on all the social media platforms they are presently on. Friday the 13th will still be available for purchase, and for those still interested in playing the game, double XP, CP, and tape drop rates will remain active indefinitely.
Friday the 13th got off to a bad start in 2017, but throughout the months that followed, developer IllFonic began to patch the game’s many stability and performance issues to create a popular and rewarding multiplayer survival-horror experience. In large part due to complicated legal issues regarding the franchise’s ownership rights brought forward by Victor Miller, writer of the original Friday the 13th’s screenplay, IllFonic and Gun Media were unable to add any new content to the game. Illfonic ultimately gave control of the game over to Black Tower Entertainment, making support and development their domain.
“Previously, we had a license to Friday the 13th that allowed development and new content for the video game,” IllFonic explained back in 2018. “However, this was negatively affected by the Miller litigation.”
“As a result of that litigation, we were not able to release new content for the game but were able to continue to support and maintain the game in the way we have been. Any other Friday the 13th licensing does not necessarily affect our ability to put out new content for the game. There are no plans to re-negotiate our license to create new content regardless of how the film rights are ultimately settled.”
Since then, IllFonic has moved on to, oddly enough, another very popular 1980’s property with the game Predator: Hunting Grounds, which is also an asymmetrical multiplayer game. It also shares the dubious similarity of getting off to a rocky start, but despite those problems, it’s been getting new content since April. Hopefully, it won’t encounter the same issues as Friday the 13th did, legal or otherwise.
Degenerate Jay discusses Friday the 13th in greater detail on his YouTube channel. Check it out:
