Fatal Frame Producer Confirms Film, Casts Doubt On New Game/Remasters

With all the rumors floating around, it’s important to remember that you can actually base your speculations on actual sources. And by sources, I mean the people that make the games. Not some dude on Twitter. Although, those sources tend to be far more disappointing. I’d much rather hear about how the new Fatal Frame features an all-new silver nitrate upgrade that allows my camera to combat werewolves in space. Instead, we just get far more depressing stories that a new game isn’t in the cards for new. But hey, at least we get a confirmation of Christophe Gans’s statement that he’s working on a Fatal Frame film.

If you aren’t familiar with the Fatal Frame franchise, then clearly you aren’t a cool horror kid from the early 2000’s. Releasing in the wave of PS2 titles, Fatal Frame dared to ask, “what if we fight ghosts with cameras and not bullets.” It’s built off of the most metal interpretation of the theory that getting your picture taken steals your soul. It’s like old-school occultism mixed with Ghostbusters. While the series would see decent success and amass a sizeable cult following, it never reached the heights of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The franchise has only received 5 installments (6 if you count the remake of 2), which is basically nothing for a Japanese horror IP. With the last release being the poorly received Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water in 2014, many fans feel like it’s high time for a new one. Unfortunately, series producer Keisuke Kikuchi had this to say in an interview with Nintendo Everything:

“So I have to admit there is some distance between my personal feelings and ambitions and the feasibility of such projects. Obviously the Hollywood movie is in production and will make it to the western markets, so obviously I’d personally like to bring to our audience not just the movie, but also the games that can accompany it.

As for Fatal Frame 2 and 4, Nintendo handles the publishing rights, so we don’t exactly have a say in that matter. Another factor would be is that I’m basically overseeing the Gust brand at this moment, and to secure production lines and team members, in the short-term it would also be very difficult, but in the long run I’ve never really given up the idea. So in the short-term it’s not exactly realistic at the moment.“

If you aren’t familiar with that Gust brand he was talking about, it’s a Japanese development studio responsible for titles such as the Atelier and Ar tonelico franchises. Remember when I said that Fatal Frame only having 5 games is small for a Japanese franchise? The Gust library is big. So chances are, Keisuke Kikuchi won’t have any time soon to work on a new Fatal Frame. It sucks, but if fans complain about it hard enough Nintendo will just have to respond. Right?