In the summer of 2017, the game Friday the 13th: The Game suddenly became the mega-hit on Twitch. At its peak, the trashy-looking asymmetric game had 125,000 viewers. However, the game is now losing steam, the servers are shutting down on Steam, not because of a lack of players, but because of the Warhammer problem: the expensive license is expiring – many fans of the game are saying goodbye.
What was it like in 2017? The game seemed cheap at that time, and the gaming press criticized it. It received only 61% on Metacritic. Games with such ratings are usually flops that no one cares about.
Yet Friday the 13th: The Game struck a chord with Twitch and became a hit. At its height in June 2017, it had 125,328 viewers. The developers stated: They are not concerned with reviews; Twitch is more important.
At that time, it was still somewhat new that games could do so well on Twitch despite poor reviews, boosting sales on Steam. Later, games like PUBG and Fortnite made this a new phenomenon.
Friday the 13th: The Game was completely overwhelmed by the influx of players; the developers had not anticipated such a surge. The servers crashed.
Yet on December 31, 2024, the lights went out for the horror game, with about 450 players saying goodbye – many speak of a legend being laid to rest.
Dead by Daylight has long established itself as a better alternative in the niche of Friday the 13th: The Game:
The deliberately trashy look made the game’s appeal
This was the appeal of the game: Friday the 13th: The Game is a very similar game to Dead by Daylight, but with familiar characters from the “Friday the 13th” film series: More or less defenseless civilians fleeing from a relentless, powerful killer.
In 2017, it was a huge amount of fun on Twitch because the game was exciting to watch but quite trashy. The appeal stemmed from a 70s horror film aesthetic and the screams of streamers when the killer caught them.
However, the game was never particularly high quality – Dead By Daylight quickly surpassed it. Still, few games evoke such a good feeling among fans as the nostalgia trip: On Steam, it eventually had 79% positive reviews.
There were bugs time and again, but they contributed to the entertainment:
Players say goodbye to a legend
Why is it closing now? Friday the 13th: The Game must now close because the license for the films is expiring, and it apparently does not make sense to invest more money into it.
In the reviews on Steam, many are bidding farewell to the game. They say they spent so much time with the game – it had great potential. Many found the game really enjoyable.
The servers went offline on 12/31, with about 453 players online one last time to say goodbye. The peak player count on Steam of 16,077 concurrent players was reached in May 2017.
Additionally, the game’s runtime was always marked by legal issues: After 2 years of dying, Friday the 13th is finally dead
