Kinetic Games, the one-person studio behind smash-hit co-op ghost hunting game Phasmophobia is ‘reconsidering’ its development plans – which had initially only called for a short early access period – as a result of the game’s huge success.
Phasmophobia’s developer, who goes by the name of Dknighter, released the horror game onto Steam back in September, but despite humble expectations for the project, it quickly proved a hit. “I was planning for the server capacity hitting a maximum of 500 players on launch day and it to drop off from there,” Dknighter told IGN, “Now the game has over 2 million sales, with a player peak of around 90k”
Phasmophobia’s meteoric rise has ultimately forced a bit of a rethink in terms of how development will proceed. “I was originally planning the early access to be short, where I just add a few more maps, ghost types and equipment,” Dknighter explained, “However, due to the game’s popularity, everyone’s expectations are increased so I am going to have to reconsider my plans for the game’s future.”
As for what those newly evolved plans might look like, and how they will impact the game, that remains to be seen. At present, Dknighter is prioritising major bug fixes over new content, explaining, “These bug fixes would usually be sent out when they are ready but, due to me having to update a lot of the game’s code, a lot of new systems need testing, so the next update will be a big stability and bug fix update.” When new content does arrive, it will similarly “likely get bundled together in big updates.”
One thing that seemingly won’t be happening, however, is a vaguely considered PvP mode, which would have seen one player control the ghost while four additional players carried out Phasmophobia’s usual business of ghost hunting. “The second PvP mode was added to the Trello to see what everyone’s reactions would be,” Dknighter explained, “[but] right now I have no plans to add another game mode, as it would turn the game into something completely different, and push the game away from what I want it to be.”
Phasmophobia is available now in Steam early access.