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Earlier this month, Montreal-based developer James Wearing, lead behind the Kickstarted asymmetrical teen slasher game Last Year, spoke out toward the officially licensed Friday the 13th: The Game when it was revealed and placed on Kickstarter for its own round of funding. After Wearing cast some shade toward the project over Twitter, for its similarities to his game and the copyright strike he had received some months prior from the IP owner of Friday the 13th, Gun Media released the below response:
The original Last Year KickStarter campaign explicitly used the Friday the 13th trademarks/copyrights, which they acknowledged and removed. The requested changes came from the rights holders who obviously have a very successful franchise of films, television series, and now video game to protect. They subsequently communicated with the Last Year group to remove the infringing elements. Everything was quite amicable from what we understand, given the circumstances.
Gun Media’s Wes Keltner, Co-Creator of Friday The 13th: The Game has said a little more in regards to the situation, in our upcoming interview with the game’s creative team. “We saw their announcement a couple weeks after we announced Summer Camp. There was some similarities, for sure,” said Wes Keltner. “Honestly, I was excited to see their announcement. It let me know that this is a good idea. I’m a strong believer in the collective consciousness, and I think the Last Year and Summer Camp is a great example of it.”
He added, “I absolutely think there’s room for additional asymmetric multiplayer slasher games. Why not? With different gameplay, mechanics and art styles, you can have a lot of variety to create a unique experience. Look at the films during the slasher golden years of the 80’s. Jason, Freddy and Michael are completely different. I say the more the merrier. Who knows, if another slasher multiplayer focused game comes to market, and fans love it…there could be some interesting opportunities to do collaborations together. We love working with smart, innovative designers.”
That’s not a bad answer, if you ask me. But I suspect this isn’t the last we’ll hear about the “rivalry” between the two games.
For our full interview with the team behind Friday the 13th: The Game, check back tomorrow!
