Gun Interactive is trying its hand at the asymmetrical slasher genre again with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, in collaboration with Sumo Digital. But there are concerns about licensing issues after its first attempt, Friday the 13th, fell apart.
“The situation surrounding Friday the 13th was inherently more complicated than it is with Texas,” creative director Ronnie Hobbs said in an interview with PCGamesN. “With Texas, we are dealing directly with Kim Henkel, the sole owner of the IP. We’ve been working closely with him during the entire process not only from a creative standpoint, but also a legal one. We have been as diligent as possible during this entire experience to ensure things go smoothly.”
RELATED: Interview: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Devs On Why It Went For 3v4
For context, the Friday the 13th game is being delisted on December 31 following the 2018 legal battle. Co-creator Victor Miller filed a lawsuit against director Sean S. Cunningham to try and get control over the franchise, and he won the case. After getting the rights back, discussions were held between Gun Interactive and Miller about the future of the game, but licensing discussions didn't pan out.
This didn't dissuade Gun Interactive from pursuing multiplayer horror games, however. Speaking to PCGamesN, Hobbs said, "After the success of Friday the 13th we had a lot of potential suitors contacting us about turning their IP into games. We spent quite a while sorting through and weighing our options before finally being introduced to Kim Henkel. Once we discovered that both sides had an immense interest in creating a game, we quickly knew Texas was going to be our next project."
Henkel is an American screenwriter who co-wrote the original Texas
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