At this point, it’s safe to assume that Scott Cawthon is a god tier troll. After last year’s release of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location, Cawthon teased a sixth game in the franchise. However, he later announced the cancellation of the game – a decision he soon walked back on. But prior to the supposed release of FNAF 6, he teased a new game, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator. The new game would come later this year, apparently. But now here we are, not even a week after that teaser went live, and we realize we’ve all been duped. This “Pizzeria Simulator” turned out to be a clever ruse for FNAF 6.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a very bizarre animal. At a glance, one assumes that the series is fairly shallow. That it’s founded largely on the basis of everyone’s favorite horror movie tactic – jump scares. However, this is a surface-level assumption. The FNAF games are always crammed with hidden lore and metagames. Entire YouTube channels were been built around coverage of the still relatively obscure horror game franchise. Furthermore, many established channels, such as The Game Theorists, saw huge upticks in popularity because of their deep dives into FNAF‘s hidden story.
Since the release of the game, countless channels have taken it upon themselves to crack into the game. Some are simply enjoying the base game as with mega channels like Markiplier. Others get into all of the game’s secrets like Dawko or the aforementioned Game Theorists. This isn’t the first time Cawthon’s done this, either. He actually has a history of surprising fans with new games or releasing games well ahead of their expected release date. In the past, his websites have had clues regarding the latest games’ lore or mechanics hidden in the source code. And that’s on top of the teases plainly visible on the site itself.
Despite the massive popularity of the games and a number of official books published by Cawthon, himself, FNAF is still an obscure series. However, that could change thanks to the announcement of a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie in the works, back in 2015. Originally to be helmed by Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema. However, they’ve since dropped the movie from production, with the project now lingering in limbo. Though Cawthon did tease the involvement of Blumhouse on the project, earlier this year. Details are still murky at best, but it may not be long before theaters the world over are “Ready for Freddy.”
In the meantime, “Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator” (aka Five Nights at Freddy’s 6) is currently available on Steam.
