Earlier today, Scott Cawthon, creator of Five Nights at Freddy’s, uploaded a single picture to his website. You view it here. It’s a hat. Yup… just a hat. The same hat that Freddy normally wears, when he’s not trying to kill you. What’s the big deal?
Why are people overloading the official Scott Cawthon website over a hat, of all things?
There’s this overwhelming sense that perhaps there won’t be more Five Nights at Freddy’s games. The belief stems from one of the endings of Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, where you are shown a newspaper clipping. Spoilers: Here, Cawthon speaks very frankly about the development process behind Five Nights:
For those of you that have trouble reading that blurred-out stuff, here’s what it says, courtesy of Redditor GarudaSmash:
Looking back on many of my old games, I’ve found that there is almost always a broken-down robot in them. I’m not sure why this seems to be such a recurring theme in my games, but it’s obvious that it’s something haunting me.
Before I began work on FNaF, I had to choose what game to make out of three potential games, knowing it might be my last try before having to start a new career. I was choosing between a sequel to The Desolate Hope, a remake of my first game – Legacy of Flan, or a new idea about animatronics and security cameras.
While working on the first game, I started a crowdfunding campaign for it. I raised exactly zero dollars.
Fun fact: The names Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy were just nicknames while I worked on the characters. I was planning on giving them official names later but had grown very fond of them by the time the game was done.
In the original game, Freddy was never originally meant to move around the diner and was only meant to “get you” if your time ran out. This was changed before release.
In real life I tend to have waking-nightmares, meaning that I walk in my sleep, etc. One night I dreamt that Bonnie was in the hall outside my door, so I jumped out of bed and rushed to hold the door shut. I discovered that the door was locked and it filled me with dread. In FNaF 1, when the doors don’t work, it means something is already in your office! So when I felt that the door was locked, I felt like bonnie was in my bedroom and was about to get me! Thankfully, I woke up.
I actually modelled the Foxy character on my laptop while riding on a 24hr drive to visit my in-laws over the summer of 2014. It’s very difficult to model a 3D character on a bumpy car ride. Maybe this is why Foxy looks so torn up!
While we were there visiting, my kids got to experience Foxy’s jumpscare for the first time!
It could be Scott Cawthon just opening up, and giving fans something nice for finishing the game — it’s not easy to get this ending. But the combination of the note, along with the hat, and the sad music that plays during the ‘real’ ending/the not-haunted animatronics in the ‘real’ ending has some fans convinced that maybe this is it.
Normally, whenever Cawthon uploads images to his website, it’s to tease fans. You can find all sorts of hidden details if you darken or brighten the images he uploads on his website, or if you look into the code. But not with the hat. It’s just…a hat. There’s no hidden text, code, or message: just a hat, as far as people can tell. And to some people, what this says is essentially, ‘it’s all over, folks. Thanks for the memories.’ Everyone is speculating.
“I’m personally glad the series has ended,” one Redditor wrote in a thread where most people are convinced that the hat means it’s all over. “Everybody agrees that Scott has outdone himself with the third game a deserves a long break. I’d rather there not to be a fourth instalment in the series, it’d be overworking the idea.”
Elsewhere on the web, fans are trying to make sense of the ending, or the hat. Some fans are even saying their goodbyes already:
New teaser on http://t.co/PbebHY7upN Does this mean… it’s over? pic.twitter.com/0EQawV4cA1
— Smike (@SmikeTV) March 3, 2015
I guess the series might be… over? It’s been a great ride! but hey, there may be a five nights at Bonnie’s! pic.twitter.com/RoaIetAlRw
— MT ArrivingSquid! (@MTArrivingSquid) March 3, 2015
F-five nights at Freddy’s is over….its complete. The kids are free and the purple man is dead….no more. The new teaser says so.
— ….Fwuffy…. (@Nightyena) March 3, 2015
Fnaf fandom after seeing the Freddy top hat teaser pic.twitter.com/cfka6klVYi
— mrnoobJ43 (@mrnoobJ43) March 3, 2015
All I have to say is either way..whether it continues or not, its been one heck of a ride. Thank you so much Scott Cawthon for all of it.
— Jen-chan (@ArceusLover101) March 3, 2015
(Source: the-derpy-brony)
(Source: starman254)
It could be that people are reading into it — the ending also says that some items from the facilities were sold off in an auction. How do we know that’s not actually the set-up for even more Five Nights games? And sure enough, there are at least a few fans that are holding out on the hope that maybe this isn’t it for the franchise. Really, it’s too early to tell.
I can’t help but wonder if people are choosing to read into the hat in this specific way because it feels like this would be a good place to end the series, for everyone’s sake. Where could Cawthon take the series from here, really? And if nothing else, getting three games over the course of two years is intense. The idea of a fourth game on top of all of that almost feels ridiculous, especially given how fast the development time is on FNAF games.
Who knows. Maybe there’s a FNAF 4 in the future. Maybe this is just the Five Nights fandom being fandom — they’re famed for seeing clues where there are none. For now, I can’t help but wonder what else Scott Cawthon can make.
Comments
10 responses to “Why Five Nights At Freddy’s Fans Are Freaking Out Over A Hat”
He’s now moving on to a monthly release schedule, that’s what the hat means
Actually, the game exists because Jim “Fucking” Sterling made fun and insulted his previous games that sent him into a depression.
and that hat is to confirm the Five Nights at Freddys movie deal he just made.
You know, a FNAF movie would really work well if they did the whole low budget, gory version where you saw someone actually getting stuffed inside one of the suits, broken bones and all.
He’s done great for himself, hats off to him. I started reading the lore a few days ago and it’s pretty damn ominous and dark. My kid gets right into it. Well done to him.
HATS OFF! IT MAKES SENSE NOW!
Awesome idea.
I think it signifies that Saxton Hale has decided a hat based economy works and has extended the market to another vertical to leverage synergy.
Hat-themed restaurants! A Hatty Meal for the kids, a Big Hat for the adults. For a snack, try the Tomato and Parmesan Toasted Beret slices!
Very tasty. 😉
Don’t be stupid. This means at least 16 games to be released, in the next 3 weeks. Introducing a DLC option to pay for more power to keep lights on. Only to release a pre-sequel completely changing the timeline of the entire series.
Then lets not forget the HD re-releases.
Eat it up yokels.
FnaF 4 to be released in 6 minutes, Cat in the Hat dlc confirmed
The single number 4 can change everything.
Next week is the F2P FNAF. You Pay Per Second of lights being on and you are given a total bill at the end of each mission.
The Week after that when FNAF V is released. It will actually be a prequel with the ability to buy Skins for the robots.
it means in the next dlc freddy will try to kill you all the time ala Aliens: isolation.
😉 whether it is over of Not is hushed.
What do you mean?
Um, if you brighten the image, you can just barely make out the number 4 in the upper lefthand corner.
FNAF 4 confirmed. Scott is creating a new game that will make men scream like little girls.