Split Fiction streamers discover and finish the Laser Hell secret stage, earning them a trip to Hazelight Studios. Read to learn more about Split Fiction’s Laser Hell challenge and what the studio is up to after the game’s success.
Split Fiction Continues With More Surprises
First Players to Finish "Laser Hell" Challenge Earn a Trip to Hazelight Studios
Split Fiction had a successful launch last month, and the game still continues to bring more surprises as players discover the secret "Laser Hell" stage. Despite being surprisingly difficult, a pair of streamers managed to complete the challenge and earned a trip to Hazelight Studios as a reward from the game’s director himself.
Chinese streamers sharkOvO and E1uM4y recently posted a video on the streaming site BiliBili showcasing them accomplishing the Laser Hell challenge. To access this stage, players must enter a specific sequence of pressing switches on the elevator in the Isolation level. After doing it correctly, the elevator will take them to the platform stage riddled with lasers.
Completing the challenge unlocked a video of Hazelight Founder Josef Fares congratulating the duo for their achievement as he revealed that even most of the developers from the team could barely finish the level, and inviting them to Hazelight Studios in Sweden. Not long after the video was posted, Fares himself took notice of this and posted on Twitter (X) on March 19 and said, "Congrats to "sharkOvO" and "E1uM4y" for finishing the secret challenge "Laser Hell" in #splitficton. VERY impressive! I will keep my promise and invite you both to Sweden for an early look of our next game. We´ll be in touch!"
Hazelight Studios Working On Its Next Game
During an interview with The Friends Per Second podcast on March 17, Fares talked about Hazelight’s relationship with publisher EA and that the studio is starting to begin work for their next game.
Fares shared that after Split Fiction was released, it felt different from all his other games. "For me, personally, every time a game is out, I’m kind of done with it. I’m kind of like, ‘OK, here’s the next thing.’" He continued, "This has been a bit extra special. I would say that it’s been the best-received game we have done, but to be honest, everybody is super happy, but I’m so fully-focused and excited on the next thing that we already have started."
Despite mentioning that they are working on something right now, Fares declined to share any information about their current project. "There is a reason why I can’t talk about the next game; it’s because it’s quite early," he said. "You do know, at Hazelight, we don’t work on [a] game more than three or four years. Three or four years is not so far away. Then we’re going to talk more about it. It’s way too early, but just know this: we are very, very, very, very excited here. Very excited, and we started working on this a month ago-ish."
As far as Hazelight’s relationship with publisher EA, Fares explained, "Here’s the thing, people don’t understand this: EA is a supporter. We don’t pitch games to them." He added, "We say, ‘We’re going to do this.’ That’s it. They have zero, and I mean zero, thing to say about what we’re doing next."
Regardless of how mixed EA’s reputation has been as a publisher, Fares emphasized how good a partner EA has been to their studio, sharing that even if other developers don't have a good relationship with the publisher, EA respects Hazelight and leaves them to their jobs. "Maybe they’re f***ing up with other developers. With us, no. They respect us. They respect what we do. I’m very clear with them that they cannot interfere with what we do. Now, we have become one of their most successful studios."
First Update and Hitting 2 Million Sales in 1 Week
Split Fiction just released an update for the game on March 17 which involves several fixes that the community has found since its launch. Fixes include in-game mechanics not working well in certain situations, minor glitches during online play, localization and subtitles across all languages, and more.
Aside from that, Split Fiction recently hit a big milestone, having sold more than 2 million copies in just 1 week. In comparison, Hazelight’s 2021 Game of the Year Award winner It Takes Two sold 1 million copies a few weeks after its launch, which skyrocketed to 20 million by October 2024.
Split Fiction is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. To stay up to date with the latest information about the game, check out our article below!
Source:
Hazelight Studio Founder Twitter (X) post Congratulating First Players to Finish Laser Hell Challenge
Hazelight Studio Founder The Friends Per Second Podcast Interview
Split Fiction - Update Notes 17/03
