EA's latest RPG, Split Fiction, launched to much fanfare from critics and gamers alike, with its unorthodox gameplay style and a focus on co-op setting it apart from other recent game releases. It seems as though this early launch success has carried over to financial success for EA and the game's developer, beating out even the massively popular It Takes Two, which also came from Hazelight Studios. As of the time of writing, SteamDB reports that Split Fiction has garnered a peak concurrent player count of 259,003 players.

Hazelight Studios today also announced that it had sold over 2 million copies of Split Fiction in the game's first week. For comparison, this is twice as many sales as the recently cancelled Price of Persia: The Lost Crown managed in the year since it released. Hazelight's previous co-op hit, It Takes Two, peaked at just over 70,000 concurrent players nearly three years after its initial launch. Compared to other Steam games, Split Fiction currently sits in 51st place when it comes to peak concurrent player counts, just behind Rust but ahead of The Finals. It's worth mentioning that Split Fiction is also a full price game, coming in at $49.99 on Steam, while the majority of the other games in the top 50 ranking are free-to-play.

Josef Fares is a passionate creator, innovator, and a bold leader. These qualities have long served him well as the Director of Hazelight Studios, where he's built a reputation for delivering emotionally charged and deeply immersive interactive entertainment experiences. Known for his unique style and knack for blending humor, heart, and innovative gameplay, Fares has captivated the gaming world with his work on titles like A Way Out and critical darling It Takes Two. And now, after years of anticipation and dedication, Josef is back with Hazelight's latest creation: Split Fiction.

We sat down with Josef prior to launch (available March 6 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and through the EA app) for an exclusive Q&A to dive into the creative process behind Split Fiction, the challenges of bringing such a complex vision to life, and one level in particular that he believes is something that has never been seen before in video games. Let's dive in!

Embrace the power of friendship and explore sci-fi and fantasy worlds with your co-op buddy today! A message from Hazelight Studios—every game we've released has embraced a key word. In "A Way Out" it was "Trust" and in "It Takes Two" it was "Collaboration." With Split Fiction, it's all about "Friendship." That is also the heart of the experience we hope you will have as you play the game. Whether it is strengthening your bond with a partner or immersing yourself in the journey with an old friend.

We created Split Fiction by putting passion, creativity and a big love of video games first. This is a game that was built collaboratively by everyone at Hazelight and we haven't shied away from putting not only our best but also wildest ideas into it. We hope you will enjoy playing our game as much as we did making it. We are so eager to let you and other players around the world finally dive into our latest co-op adventure. To say that we're proud of it is an understatement! We also hope you will make those lasting memories in Split Fiction that only come from sharing an experience with someone else - that's what it's all about in the end.

Time for a roaring-good time with Capcom's hit Monster Hunter Wilds. GeForce NOW members can hunt even the largest, most daunting monsters with the sharpest clarity, armed with a GeForce RTX 4080-class gaming rig in the cloud. Plus, jump into mind-bending adventures with Split Fiction from Hazelight Studios, an action-adventure experience that will keep players on the edges of their seats with plenty of unexpected twists. It's all part of the eight games available to stream in the cloud this week.

The Hunt Begins
Happy hunting in the cloud. The unbridled force of nature runs wild and relentless in Monster Hunter Wilds, with environments transforming drastically from one moment to the next. This is a story of monsters and humans and their struggles to live in harmony in a world of duality. Members can fulfill their duties as a Hunter by tracking and defeating powerful monsters and forging strong, new weapons and armor from materials harvested from the hunt, all while uncovering the connection between the people of the Forbidden Lands and the locales they inhabit.

Today is a great day to be a gamer, as EA and Hazelight Studios unveiled Split Fiction: Friend Edition - a very special edition of the anticipated co-op adventure from the team behind the 2021 Game of the Year winner, It Takes Two. This limited edition of Split Fiction comes with all the essentials for you to jump straight into amazing co-op gaming - a copy of the game, a second controller, and for the first (and maybe only) time ever, a real friend shipped straight to your door. Get ready, because Split Fiction: Friend Edition is coming soon to a couch near you.

"As a gamer, being part of an epic special edition like this is awesome! I'm honored to be the first ever real-life friend to come with a game," said Greg, a companion that players can unbox by ordering Split Fiction: Friend Edition. "It was a little scary when Josef Fares told me to go into the packaging, but it's roomier and comfier than it looks. I'm excited to travel the world and make a new friend. I've got snacks to share and high fives to hand out as soon as I'm unboxed."

GeForce NOW is blooming further with an array of 14 new titles in March. A garden of gaming delights will have members marching straight into action and adventure this spring, with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Shadows, Tripwire Interactive's Killing Floor 3 and Hazelight Studio's Split Fiction coming to the cloud next week at launch. Start off with six games coming to the cloud this week, including Halo: The Master Chief Collection. And don't miss out on the latest update for miHoYo's hit game Honkai: Star Rail. GeForce NOW one-month and six-month Performance and Ultimate memberships are available for new members to purchase again in the US, Canada and Europe, as well as the free tier. Stay tuned for updates as more membership options become available.

Split Adventure
Hazelight Studios, creators of the acclaimed It Takes Two, are returning with a new and imaginative co-op game: Split Fiction. The narrative-driven adventure follows Mio, a writer of science fiction, and Zoe, a fantasy author, who find themselves trapped in a simulation stealing their stories. Adventure across wildly shifting worlds, ranging from the dazzling, neon-drenched landscapes of futuristic cyberpunk cities to the enchanted, dragon-populated depths of ancient forests.

If you've played a Hazelight Studios game before, you know that the characters they create for you and your co-op partner come with unique personalities, backgrounds, and motivations that produce unforgettable moments as their stories unfold. Hazelight Studios is keeping that trend up as they introduce two new player characters in Split Fiction, which is launching on March 6. Take control of two unpublished authors, Mio and Zoe, who you will quickly find are worlds apart! When you first meet Mio and Zoe, they have been lured into Rader Publishing Headquarters with the promise of a potential publishing deal which goes horribly wrong, trapping them inside a simulation of their stories which you have to help them escape. In this blog, we're diving deeper into their characters so that you can confidently pick your favorite when you get your hands on the game!

Mio Hudson—Science Fiction author
Reserved. Decisive. Realist. Introvert. Raised in the city with her father, Mio has barely scraped by for the last couple of years. She isn't looking for fame or recognition as an author, she's just in it for the money. Her love for all things sci-fi is reflected in her literary works, taking place in neon-lit cyberpunk cities, harsh futuristic weapon plants, and even in the coldness of outer space. Expect to see her love for sci-fi shine through in the abilities she gains inside the simulations, where she may become a gravity-defying ninja equipped with a lethally sharp energy sword, wear an advanced exosuit that grants remote control of drones, or dual-wield laser blasters in futuristic combat armor.