Five Nights At Freddy’s Creator Responds to Criticism, Wins The Internet

The internet is a place that tends to breed anger. It’s a big town square where nearly anybody can be heard, and most people take advantage of that opportunity. For people who make things, like Five Nights at Freddy’s creator Scott Cawthon, it’s a double edged sword. Putting your creative work out there will result in some fans, but also in some detractors. With the release of the 4th, and final, Freddy’s game, the haters seem to have been getting a little louder. Cawthon responded to the criticism on the Steam Community and in doing so he won the internet.

The primary criticism appears to be that the four games in the Five Nights series have all been released in the last 12 months and that Cawthon is just churning out games in order to take the money and run.

In the post, entitled “Make A Difference,” Cawthon takes his detractors to task for criticizing his success. While he has earned some success recently, he confesses that a year ago he was working as a cashier in a dollar store.  He admits, and accepts, that his games aren’t perfect. According to him that’s not the point.

But there are a lot of people out there who will hate anything that becomes popular, just because it’s popular, and hate anyone who becomes successful, just because they are successful. “Haters gonna hate.” –as they say, but I want you to know that focusing on someone else’s failure or success is the wrong way to live. People who make videos bashing other people are like people who run into a public square and scream into a pillow. They’ll get attention, but they won’t change anything. If you strive to be like them, then you’ll spend your life screaming into a pillow as well, and your life won’t mean anything.

He spends the majority of the post trying to inspire other would-be creators to take a chance and not let the voices of those who have given up get them down. Cawthon says he wants to play the games created by others in future.

While the Five Nights games have been something of an overnight success it’s important to realize that Cawthon didn’t make them a success himself. People buying the games and playing them  (and putting up videos on YouTube of them playing) is what made the games a success.

It’s clear that he appreciates the success that he has achieved, and people love playing his games. While I’ve never understood the appeal of the series, I don’t begrudge anybody their success. In fact, knowing Cawthon a little bit better now, I’m even happier for him now. Read the entire post here.