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Agence France-Presse

Video game developer Josef Fares is on a mission to put storytelling first in video games, slamming money-driven designs for stifling creativity.
“From a creative perspective, if you involve money too much, then it will affect it,” says Fares, whose 2021 game It Takes Two was a critical and commercial success.
The 47-year-old Swede of Lebanese descent, a former filmmaker who founded game developer Hazelight Studios in 2014, does not have a lot of patience for video game industry trends such as microtransactions, where players are encouraged to repeatedly pay small amounts for virtual in-game items.
The model provides developers with a revenue stream after the initial purchase of a game, or in some cases the game is made free upfront with such transactions being the only form of revenue.


Fares concedes that in some cases it has been extremely profitable, but “we will never have those in our games”.
Animated, he explains that introducing such mechanics inevitably starts affecting design decisions.
“Those decisions shouldn’t be in video games. It shouldn’t be like, ‘OK, let’s change that so you pay more money,’” he says.
Fares, who fled to Sweden with his family when he was 10 to escape the Lebanese Civil War, is known for speaking his mind, even using an expletive at The Game Awards in 2017 to blast the Oscars.
In the early 2000s, he wrote and directed five Swedish feature films, both comedies and dramas.
He founded Hazelight Studios following the success of his first video game project, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

The Stockholm-based studio focuses on games that require two players to play and work together.
It has released two games so far and is putting the finishing touches on its latest project, Split Fiction.
The themes of the studio’s first two games can be summed up with one word each, Fares says.
A Way Out (2018), in which two prisoners escape from prison together, was about “trust”, he says.
The critically acclaimed follow-up, It Takes Two, was about “collaboration”, telling the story of a married couple planning to get divorced but transformed into small dolls, which forces them to work together to navigate the perils of their own home.
Meanwhile, “Split Fiction is about friendship,” Fares says.
The story follows aspiring writers Mio and Zoe, who have clashing personalities, as they become trapped inside a simulation of their own stories, and must overcome their differences to make it out.
“It’s kind of like a buddy movie, that you obviously play,” Fares says.

Directing movies and video games is not the same, he says.
“You have to understand that they are two entirely different mediums: one is interactive, one is passive,” he says.
Movies, a passive medium, have been around much longer and therefore the art of storytelling has had more time to grow.
When dealing with an interactive medium, where the player chooses how and when to proceed, developers do not have the same control over things like pacing or where the player focuses.
Telling engaging stories in this environment is still being figured out, Fares says. “We want to be part of figuring out how to tell stories in video games.”

Sweden’s video game industry has long punched above its weight for such a small country, spawning hit franchises such as Minecraft and the Battlefield series, as well as mobile games such as Candy Crush.
Globally, the video game industry went through a rough patch in 2024, with many studios cutting staff.
According to a report by the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), one in 10 developers was laid off during the year, with restructuring and declining revenues cited as the top reasons.
Fares says he still believes the industry is in “a good place”, but hopes that developers focus on creating the games they want, rather than trying to chase the next big thing.
“I hope it’s going to get better, but I just hope people take more decisions based on what they love and want to do.”


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It Takes Two director on microtransactions in video games and new title Split Fiction

Swedish-Lebanese game developer Josef Fares, 47, is the founder of Hazelight Studios, which has released two games, A Way Out (2018) and It Takes Two (2021), and is planning to release a third, Split Fiction, in 2025. Photo: AFP

A poster of Hazelight Studios’ new game, Split Fiction, is seen at the company’s headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: AFP

The mocap (motion capture) room at Hazelight Studios’ headquarters. Photo: AFP

Fares hopes people in the video game industry “take more decisions based on what they love and want to do”. Photo: AFP

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Entertainment

Swedish game maker Josef Fares of Hazelight Studios talks about creativity over profits as he prepares to release Split Fiction this year


Swedish game maker Josef Fares of Hazelight Studios talks about creativity over profits as he prepares to release Split Fiction this year.


Sweden

It Takes Two director on microtransactions in video games and new title Split Fiction

Swedish game maker Josef Fares of Hazelight Studios talks about creativity over profits as he prepares to release Split Fiction this year

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