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Blumhouse is getting into the games business. The production company behind horror movies such as The Purge and the Halloween reboot franchises announced a new division to produce and publish its own video games for console, PC, and mobile.
While it's not the first time a film production company has entered the games space, it's noteworthy that Blumhouse specified it'll be focusing on horror games. The press release even stressed that Blumhouse Games would be focused on games budgeted below $10 million "to enable innovation and pushing creative boundaries."
This move also comes as is newest horror film, the tech-focused M3GAN, was greenlit for a sequel following its opening weekend exceeded box office expectations.
Heading up Blumhouse Games will be president Zach Wood and chief financial officer Don Sechler. Wood has previously worked on titles such as Sound Shapes and Bound, and more recently Redfall over at Arkane.
Meanwhile, Sechler ran finance and strategy for PlayStation's publisher/developer relations division, particularly as it pertained to third-parry developers. Per the press release, his time at PlayStation led to an investment of over $150 million in indie game-related content.
“For some time we have been looking to build out a team to start accessing the growth opportunity in interactive media," said Blumhouse president Abhijay Prakash. "With their experience, sensibility and knowledge of the marketplace, Zach and Don are the ideal leaders to leverage Blumhouse’s unique genre strengths into gaming.”
As previously stated, Blumhouse specifying a focus in horror games is expected, and also notable. In the triple-A space, horror is seeing a strong resurgence this year due to remakes for Dead Space and Resident Evil 4, along with wholly new experiences like Alan Wake II.
Beyond that, though, it gives the production company another way to potentially mess with audiences and draw attention to its upcoming slate of film releases. Its future list of films include a movie based on the popular video game series Five Nights at Freddy's.
Outside of games, Blumhouse has also dabbled into interactive horror experiences based on its properties such as Nope, Unfriended, and Sinister.
Right now, it wants to create games budgeted under $10 million. But given how many film properties like Friday the 13th or Killer Clowns from Outer Space have game adaptations, it may be a matter of time before Blumhouse Games aims higher and takes advantage of what something like The Purge could be in an interactive format.
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