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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Technology
Andrew Williams

Horror movie hitmaker Blumhouse is branching out into games

The company behind horror film hits like Get Out and M3GAN has confirmed its intention to make horror-themed games.

Blumhouse studios is launching a Blumhouse Games label, which plans to work with existing indie developers to publish scary titles on consoles, PC, and mobile platforms.

Blumhouse aims to deal in games with a budget of under $10 million (£8.31m), far lower that the cost of typical AAA games. Grand Theft Auto V reportedly cost £220 million to produce, and started development way back in 2008, while CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 cost an estimated £260 million to make.

This formula appears an attempt to recreate the sort of success the company has had in film. 2017 film Get Out had a production budget of £3.75 million, and made £212 million at the box office. Not all of its movies are smash hits, but their lower budgets mean one great success can offset numerous less successful releases.

“There’s a unique opportunity for horror and genre in the indie game space,” says Blumhouse Games’s president Zach Wood. He is an industry veteran, and a producer on games including 2018’s Prey: Mooncrash and 2012’s Twisted Metal.

“I’m thrilled about teaming up with Blumhouse to meaningfully leverage the company’s brand, reputation, and creative talent,” Wood explained in a statement.

The studio is yet to announce any specific developer partnerships or titles in development. However, the state of horror gaming offers clues as to some avenues it may take.

Guildford-based Supermassive Games has released four horror games as part of the Dark Pictures Anthology since 2019. These are relatively short narrative-led experiences, similar in style to an interactive movie.

Phasmophobia by Kinetic games is a co-op multiplayer haunted house experience, again by a British developer, that became a viral hit after it was streamed online by hugely popular content creators.

Horror games remain a favourite of streamers, not least because a face contorted in fear — real or otherwise — makes for good content.

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