Texas Chain Saw Massacre won't lose IP licensing like Friday the 13th, publisher says

A landscape screenshot from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
(Image credit: Gun Interactive/Sumo Digital)

Gun Interactive has said that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre won't suffer IP licensing issues down the road like Friday the 13th: The Game

Back in 2020, Friday the 13th was forced to close its online servers indefinitely after its licensing expired, meaning the game was only playable in peer-to-peer matches in quick play. 

According to a recent report from PCGamesN, Gun Interactive has promised a different outcome for Sumo Digital's asymmetrical horror experience, with the creative director Ronnie Hobbs explaining that Texas Chain Saw Massacre's situation with licensing is different than Friday the 13th's.

"The situation surrounding Friday the 13th was inherently more complicated than it is with Texas," Hobbs said. "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."

Hobbs went on to say that the publisher received a lot of "potential suitors" who wanted to turn their IP into a video game, but the team ultimately decided on a partnership with Kim Henkel - who co-wrote the original screenplay for the 1974 film. 

"We spent quite a while sorting through and weighing our options before finally being introduced to Kim Henkel," Hobbs added. "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."

It was announced back in June that Friday the 13th: The Game is officially being delisted as of December 31, 2023, and will no longer be available to buy physically or digitally afterward. Gun has since offered the game at a massive discount on available platforms. So there's still time to grab it while you can, but there is still a selection of the best horror games to check out in the meantime. 

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is set to launch on August 18 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.