On the heels of a new executions and weapons skins pack being released for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, not to mention Barbara Crampton joining in on the fun, it’s admittedly a bit of a surprise that the game’s developer, Sumo Nottingham, has announced that they’ll be handing off future development of the asymmetrical multiplayer game to another developer.
In a post to X, Sumo Nottingham announced that they will be working closely with the as-yet-unannounced incoming developer to “ensure a smooth and efficient handoff” of the game, with no interruption to players. They write, “We’d like to thank Gun Interactive for being fantastic partners for the last four years, and for giving our horror-loving team the opportunity to sink their meat hooks into this iconic title.” Sumo Nottingham will be announcing their next project “all in due course.”
Now, for those of you who are a little worried after what happened with Saber Interactive’s Evil Dead: The Game, no need to fret. Gun Interactive responded to Sumo’s post with a post of their own. A concerned fan had asked Gun Interactive’s Wes Keltner and Matt Shotcha about what this means for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, to which Gun responded:
“As the announcement reads, the team at Sumo Nottingham will be working closely in the onboarding of the incoming developer to ensure a transition with no impact to the players. Nothing to be scared of.“
Admittedly, it’s not entirely common that a game gets handed off from one developer to another for future content, but it’s not unheard of. For example, 2016’s DOOM was developed by id Software for PC, PlayStation and Xbox, and was then handed over to Panic Button for developing the Nintendo Switch port. And that one turned out great, in spite of the Switch’s hardware limitations.
Plus, when you think about it, why would the news of Barbara Crampton joining the game be announced if there was any trouble behind the scenes? Or the new executions pack?
Stay tuned for more as we learn it.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is out now on PC via Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.