Blumhouse is getting involved with video games

If you’re a modern horror fan, you’re bound to have seen more than a few films by Blumhouse. Since its founding in 2000, Jason Blum’s company has been responsible for many recent hits – Paranormal Activity, Halloween, The Purge and, most recently, M3GAN. And now, Blum is moving into video games – he’s launched a subsidiary to produce and publish video games, and it’s got some big names behind it. So what’s the plan behind Blumhouse Games?

Blumhouse has long touted a move into gaming, and it sounds like it intends to follow a similar approach to its films – small budgets, (hopefully) big successes. According to the company, it will focus on “original, horror-themed games for console, PC, and mobile audiences”. Essentially, it’s acting as a publisher of sorts, targeting indie-budget games with budgets below $10 million in order to enable innovation and push creative boundaries. At the time of writing, no games or specific products have been announced.

Don Sechler will be the CFO of the new venture, and Zach Wood will be its president. Sechler headed finance, operations and strategy for Sony PlayStation’s publisher and developer relations function, and helped reform the culture of PlayStation’s relationship with third-party game creators. Wood has been a video game producer for more than 25 years, shipping games on every major platform. Wood said: “Through my time in the industry, I’ve had the good fortune of working closely with developers to bring their ideas to life. There’s a unique opportunity for horror and genre in the indie game space, and I’m thrilled about teaming up with Blumhouse to meaningfully leverage the company’s brand, reputation, and creative talent.”

However, it’s not just a matter of Blumhouse making video games – its main operation is making films inspired by them. The company is involved in bringing Five Nights at Freddy’s to the big screen in a live-action project that will feature Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson in its cast (there’s currently intense speculation about whether Markiplier will have a role). There’s currently little known about the plot, other than a basic description: “A troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.” Given the game’s use of jump scares, it should be a natural fit for the studio.

Even more exciting is the announcement that Blumhouse and James Wan will be working together on a Dead by Daylight film. Blum said that the project is still looking for the perfect director and screenwriter: “There are so many fans of Dead by Daylight out there and think it’s imperative we find someone who appreciates and loves the world as much as we do, to help us bring the game to the big screen.” It’s noteworthy, though, that the game brings together Survivors and Killers, and expansion packs have included many horror icons (from both games and film). It’s possible that this film, benefitting from at least Blumhouse’s IPs, could feature many familiar faces in the greatest horror crossover ever. And, given the forthcoming merger between Blumhouse and Wan’s Atomic Monster, this could only be the start of the possibilities.

From both a gaming and a cinema perspective, Blumhouse’s plans are very exciting. Whether you like its films or not, the company has revitalised cinematic horror and set the shape for the modern genre – it’ll be interesting to see how its know-how translates to the world of gaming, and whether it’ll produce hit horror games at a time when the industry and gamers are crying out for them. If the company is as successful on platforms as it is in cinema stalls, horror gamers are in for a treat.