"Streamers Win Hazelight Studios Trip After Secret Stage Completion"

Split Fiction streamers have unlocked an exciting reward by conquering the game's hidden "Laser Hell" stage, earning them a trip to Hazelight Studios. Dive into the details of this thrilling challenge and discover what the studio is working on following the game's triumphant launch.

Split Fiction Continues With More Surprises

First Players to Finish "Laser Hell" Challenge Earn a Trip to Hazelight Studios

Split Fiction, which enjoyed a successful launch last month, continues to surprise players with its hidden "Laser Hell" stage. Despite its notorious difficulty, Chinese streamers sharkOvO and E1uM4y triumphed over the challenge, securing a trip to Hazelight Studios as a reward from the game's director, Josef Fares.

The duo shared their victory on BiliBili, revealing how to access the stage by entering a specific sequence of switch presses on the elevator in the Isolation level. Successfully navigating the laser-filled platform led them to a congratulatory video from Hazelight's founder, Josef Fares. Fares acknowledged that even most developers struggled with the level and extended an invitation to the streamers to visit Hazelight Studios in Sweden. Following the video's release, Fares took to Twitter (X) on March 19 to confirm the invitation, stating, "Congrats to "sharkOvO" and "E1uM4y" for finishing the secret challenge "Laser Hell" in #splitfiction. VERY impressive! I will keep my promise and invite you both to Sweden for an early look at our next game. We'll be in touch!"

Hazelight Studios Working On Its Next Game

In a recent interview on The Friends Per Second podcast on March 17, Josef Fares discussed Hazelight's relationship with publisher EA and hinted at the studio's next project. Fares expressed a sense of closure with each game release, stating, "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 described Split Fiction as particularly special, noting it as their best-received game yet. Despite his excitement, Fares kept details about the upcoming project under wraps, saying, "There is a reason why I can’t talk about the next game; it’s because it’s quite early. 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."

Regarding Hazelight's relationship with EA, Fares clarified, "Here’s the thing, people don’t understand this: EA is a supporter. We don’t pitch games to them." He emphasized EA's hands-off approach, stating, "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." Fares praised EA's support, noting that despite mixed perceptions of the publisher, EA respects Hazelight's creative autonomy. "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

On March 17, Split Fiction received its first update, addressing several community-identified issues. The update fixed in-game mechanics, minor online play glitches, and improved localization and subtitles across all languages.

Additionally, Split Fiction achieved a significant milestone by selling over 2 million copies within just one week of its release. This impressive figure contrasts with Hazelight's previous hit, It Takes Two, which sold 1 million copies a few weeks post-launch and reached 20 million by October 2024.

Split Fiction is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Stay updated with the latest news on the game by checking out our article below!