Scott Cawthon — BrandWiki

Scott Cawthon

Overview

Scott Cawthon

other names	Animdude
birth name	Scott Braden Cawthon
birth date	June 4, 1978
birth place	Houston, Texas, U.S.
occupation	Animator · video game developer · author · screenwriter · film producer
years active	1994–present
notable works	Five Nights at Freddy's
children	6

Scott Braden Cawthon (born June 4, 1978) is an American video game developer, writer, and producer. He created Five Nights at Freddy's, a series of horror video games which expanded into a media franchise.

Cawthon began his career developing family-friendly Christian video games to minimal success. He transitioned to horror with the first Five Nights at Freddy's game in 2014 which was a major commercial and critical success that gained a cult following. Since then, Cawthon has led development for eight games in the main series, as well as four spin-offs. Outside of the games, Cawthon wrote several stories for the franchise, including novels and the screenplay for the Five Nights at Freddy's film (2023) and its 2025 sequel, both of which he also produced.

In 2021, following extensive doxing and harassment incidents due to the publicization of his donations to the Republican Party, Cawthon announced his retirement and has since largely stepped away from game development, although still retaining exclusivity rights and overarching creative control over the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.[1]

Life and career

Scott Braden Cawthon was born on June 4, 1978, in Houston, Texas, to Linda (née Friedrich) and Joseph "Joe" H. Cawthon (1949–2019).[2]

1996–2014: Early work

A Christian, Cawthon began his career in game development, making self-funded Christian adventure games. Cawthon's first professional game was called Iffermoon. He attended the Art Institute of Houston in 1996, where he learned how to create computer graphics, and taught himself to develop games using the engine Clickteam Fusion. A member of a group of Christian artists known as Hope Animation,[4] Cawthon also made animated Christian films.[5]

Cawthon's religious projects included The Pilgrim's Progress: The Video Game (2011) and The Desolate Hope (2012). Based on the religious allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress: The Video Game is a JRPG-like game with enemies such as Beelzebub, Apollyon, Shame, and Giant Despair. The Desolate Hope is a hybrid role-playing game with active time battles, platforming, and top-down sections. Set in a "dark, brooding, and twisted industrial landscape", the dystopian story follows a robotic coffee pot who must rescue a fetus being used as a scientific specimen.[6][7] Rock Paper Shotgun praised the game's art style, describing it as akin to a "glorious artifact from the nineties, hand-crafted [and] bizarre".[6] Kill Screen later wrote that the themes of adventure and the unique art style of Cawthon's early works would reappear in some of his later projects such as FNaF World (2016).[7] After the release of Five Nights at Freddy's (2014), The Desolate Hope received both attention and criticism for the plot's perceived pro-life message,[5] although Cawthon later clarified that the game "was not designed with abortion specifically in mind."[7]

Cawthon's Christian games were generally well received but were not financially successful enough to support his wife and two children. He reluctantly stopped making religious games and instead produced cheap computer games and free-to-play mobile titles which could provide him with a steady source of income.[8][9] Calum Marsh, in his profile of Cawthon for The New York Times, wrote that these games "might bring in $40 or $50 each month".[8] He also took on programming and retail work.[8][10]

In 2013, Cawthon submitted the family-friendly game Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. to Steam Greenlight. It was a resource management title featuring anthropomorphic animals; the player character was a beaver. However, players and reviewers such as James Stephanie Sterling ridiculed the game because they thought the characters were unintentionally "creepy" and resembled "scary" animatronics.[9][8] One writer later described it as an example of the uncanny valley.[11]

Cawthon's financial situation and Chipper & Sons ' overwhelming criticism led to him becoming depressed. He thought that he had squandered his life by becoming a game developer and attempted to pursue other professions. Cawthon underwent a crisis of faith: "Either God didn't exist, or God hated me." When his life insurance policy got cancelled after the company found out that he had expressed suicidal ideation to his doctor, he realized that "now even my death had no value" and asked God to "use me somehow".[5] With his faith restored, Cawthon took inspiration from Chipper & Sons ' reception and decided to make something intentionally scarier. This was the impetus for Five Nights at Freddy's.[8]

2014–2021: Five Nights at Freddy's

Scott Cawthon–made games

Cawthon submitted Five Nights at Freddy's to Steam's Greenlight system in the summer of 2014, releasing a trailer and later a demo. He then submitted it to IndieDB, where it gained popularity, and submitted the game a third time to Desura. The game was accepted on Steam's Greenlight in August 2014. The game was well received by critics,[12] and became the subject of numerous popular Let's Play videos on YouTube. A prequel, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, was released later that year on Steam. Soon after the release of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Cawthon removed all information from his personal website and replaced it with an image of the word "offline". His website later began to show teaser images promoting Five Nights at Freddy's 3, which was released in March 2015.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 was released in 2015, with a free Halloween update following. The development of a new game, titled FNaF World, was announced, ditching the formula of the other games and instead being a role-playing video game. It was released on January 21, 2016.[13]

Scott Cawthon–made games

Cawthon submitted Five Nights at Freddy's to Steam's Greenlight system in the summer of 2014, releasing a trailer and later a demo. He then submitted it to IndieDB, where it gained popularity, and submitted the game a third time to Desura. The game was accepted on Steam's Greenlight in August 2014. The game was well received by critics,[12] and became the subject of numerous popular Let's Play videos on YouTube. A prequel, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, was released later that year on Steam. Soon after the release of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Cawthon removed all information from his personal website and replaced it with an image of the word "offline". His website later began to show teaser images promoting Five Nights at Freddy's 3, which was released in March 2015.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 was released in 2015, with a free Halloween update following. The development of a new game, titled FNaF World, was announced, ditching the formula of the other games and instead being a role-playing video game. It was released on January 21, 2016.[13] FNaF World received mixed reviews due to glitches and other issues,[14]

Steel Wool Studios–made games

In early 2019, Cawthon announced he had joined with video game studio Steel Wool Studios, with whom he intended to develop additional Five Nights at Freddy's games, and that he would primarily be responsible for storylines, character design, and gameplay. On May 28, 2019, Cawthon released the teased virtual reality game Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted for both PC and PlayStation VR. A DLC update, Curse of Dreadbear, was released on October 23, 2019.

In September 2019, a teaser[19] and announcement[20] trailers were posted to Illumix's YouTube channel regarding the augmented reality game. The title was revealed to be Five Nights at Freddy's: Special Delivery. It was released for free on November 25, 2019, on iOS and Android.

On August 8, 2019, during the first game's fifth anniversary, Cawthon posted a new image on his website, teasing the tenth installment of the series. It shows a modernized shopping mall containing a laser tag arena, an arcade, a large cinema, and a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza restaurant; in the main square, '80s-style versions of Freddy Fazbear, Chica, and two new animatronics can be seen playing for an excited crowd. On September 29, 2019, Cawthon's website was updated with a new teaser featuring the character Glamrock Freddy and was followed by an updated teaser featuring the character Vanny from Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted as a shadow.

2021: Retirement from game development

On June 16, 2021, following a controversy where it was revealed that Cawthon had donated money to Republican Party politicians,[24] Cawthon posted a message on his website announcing his retirement from public game development and expressing gratitude towards his followers for their ongoing support. He stated that he wished to retire in order to spend more time with his children.[25] He intended to appoint a successor to ensure that the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise would continue, while he himself would continue to occupy a lesser role in its development. As of 2025, Cawthon has overarching creative control over the franchise and the exclusive rights over it.

On October 18, 2023, Cawthon released his first video game since his retirement, Freddy in Space 3: Chica in Space, which was released as a supposed tie-in game for the Five Nights at Freddy's film.

Other activities

Novels

In May 2013, Cawthon released his first literary work, "The Tearing" under the pseudonym "Michael Parsins".

In December 2015, Cawthon released teasers for his first novel, Five Nights at Freddy's: The Untold Story, later renamed Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes. The book was released on December 17, 2015, as an ebook for Amazon; a paperback edition is available. According to Cawthon, the book was released earlier than its planned release date due to a mistake on Amazon's part.[26] On June 24, 2016, Cawthon announced that he had made a three-book deal with Scholastic Corporation and that the first book (The Silver Eyes) would be reprinted on paperback in October that year, with the second and third being released in 2017 and 2018.[27]

On June 27, 2017, Cawthon's second novel, Five Nights at Freddy's: The Twisted Ones, was released. It was the sequel to The Silver Eyes, and its story follows the main character, Charlie, who is "drawn back into the world of her father's frightening creations" when she tried to get over the events of The Silver Eyes. On August 29, 2017, Cawthon released the first official guidebook of Five Nights at Freddy's, entitled The Freddy Files. It contains character profiles, easter eggs, advice for playing the games, and theories sprouted from the franchise.[28]

On December 26, 2017, Cawthon released the second guidebook for Five Nights at Freddy's called Survival Logbook. Unlike previous book releases, Survival Logbook has no listed Amazon Kindle editions, implying that it has pages designed for physical writing as opposed to simply reading from a device. The book, disguised as a normal children's activity book, contains many things to do, including a word search, grid drawing, and fill-in-the-blank activities; however, all of these were found to hold secrets involving the lore.[29][30]

On June 26, 2018, the third novel in the Five Nights at Freddy's book series, Five Nights at Freddy's: The Fourth Closet, was revealed on Amazon and was slated for release that same day.[31] On December 26, 2019, the first book in the eleven-book series, Fazbear Frights #1: Into the Pit was released on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.[32] The next ten books also had their release dates and titles announced over time.

Film adaptations

Warner Bros. Pictures announced in April 2015 that it had acquired the rights to adapt the series to film. Roy Lee, David Katzenberg, and Seth Grahame-Smith were set to produce. Grahame-Smith stated that they would collaborate with Cawthon "to make an insane, terrifying and weirdly adorable movie".[33] In July 2015, Gil Kenan signed to direct the adaptation and co-write it with Tyler Burton Smith.[34]

In January 2017, Cawthon stated that partially due to "problems within the movie industry as a whole", the film "was met with several delays and roadblocks" and it was "back at square one", but he promised "to be involved with the movie from day one this time, and that's something extremely important to me. I want this movie to be something that I'm excited for the fanbase to see."[35][36]

In March 2017, Cawthon posted a picture to Twitter of himself at Blumhouse Productions, suggesting the film had a new production company.

Public image

In November 2019, Cawthon announced that he would be creating a game specifically for a fundraising event for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital hosted by YouTuber MatPat, who would play the game with fellow YouTubers Dawko and Markiplier on a livestream. The game, Freddy in Space 2, was released on December 3[47] on Game Jolt, and included dollar amounts hidden throughout that dictated how much Cawthon would donate following the stream. He boasted that a total of $500,000 was available to find but warned that it was difficult and that he doubted they would be able to find it all, as his playtester had taken five hours to complete the game. Originally, the game had a two-hour slot to be featured in the livestream; however, Markiplier continued playing after the stream had ended and managed to find a final hidden US$100,000 that raised the total donation figure to US$451,200. Cawthon went on to donate the full US$500,000 to St. Jude's.

On March 9, 2024, Cawthon appeared in an episode of The Game Theorists entitled "MatPat’s FINAL Theory!" which was MatPat's final episode appearance as host after he announced his retirement from YouTube on January 9.[48] This was Cawthon's first public video appearance.[49][50]

Politics

In June 2021, Cawthon became a trending topic on Twitter when his publicly available political donations were shared on the website. Except for one donation to then-Democratic representative Tulsi Gabbard and another donation to former Indiana House Speaker John R. Gregg, also a Democrat, all of Cawthon's donations were to Republican politicians, including Mitch McConnell and U.S. President Donald Trump. He posted on Reddit to confirm his support for the Republican Party, describing himself as pro-life. He claimed that he had been doxxed and had received threats of violence and home invasion after his donations were publicized. Reactions on social media were mixed, with some people reacting negatively.[24] Days later, Cawthon announced his intention to step away from professional game development and appoint someone else to assume creative control of the franchise.[24][51][52]

Steel Wool Studios–made games

In early 2019, Cawthon announced he had joined with video game studio Steel Wool Studios, with whom he intended to develop additional Five Nights at Freddy's games, and that he would primarily be responsible for storylines, character design, and gameplay. On May 28, 2019, Cawthon released the teased virtual reality game Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted for both PC and PlayStation VR. A DLC update, Curse of Dreadbear, was released on October 23, 2019.

In September 2019, a teaser[19] and announcement[20] trailers were posted to Illumix's YouTube channel regarding the augmented reality game. The title was revealed to be Five Nights at Freddy's: Special Delivery. It was released for free on November 25, 2019, on iOS and Android.

On August 8, 2019, during the first game's fifth anniversary, Cawthon posted a new image on his website, teasing the tenth installment of the series. It shows a modernized shopping mall containing a laser tag arena, an arcade, a large cinema, and a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza restaurant; in the main square, '80s-style versions of Freddy Fazbear, Chica, and two new animatronics can be seen playing for an excited crowd. On September 29, 2019, Cawthon's website was updated with a new teaser featuring the character Glamrock Freddy and was followed by an updated teaser featuring the character Vanny from Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted as a shadow. On March 24, 2020, another teaser featuring a brand new alligator-like character was posted, later revealed to be called Montgomery Gator. On April 21, 2020, the characters' names were leaked from Funko's list of upcoming products, and the title was revealed as Five Nights at Freddy's: PizzaPlex. A few hours later, on April 22, 2020, Scott Cawthon confirmed the leaks via Reddit and revealed that the title was not official and that it was only for Funko. Cawthon announced that the game was scheduled to release in late 2020.[21] On June 12, 2020, another teaser was released, featuring the game's antagonist, an unnamed female security guard. On August 7, 2020, a teaser of Vanny was released. One day later, Cawthon revealed the characters Glamrock Chica and Roxanne Wolf through Reddit.

On August 21, 2020, Cawthon announced his plan to help fund and publish Five Nights at Freddy's games developed by fans, bundled with previous installments in their respective series. He would not be involved in any of the creative elements but would help with marketing and publishing support, as well as appropriate licensing. The games that were announced to be included were One Night at Flumpty's series, the Five Nights at Candy's series, The Joy of Creation: Ignited Collection (consisting of the original The Joy of Creation, The Joy of Creation: Reborn, and The Joy of Creation: Story Mode), Popgoes Evergreen (including the prologue game Popgoes Arcade), and Five Nights at Freddy's Plus, a reimagining of the original game.[22] Cawthon stated that these games would likely come to mobile and consoles, and may even have merchandise created for them. The first game to be released under this initiative was a port of One Night at Flumpty's for Android and iOS on October 31 and November 18, 2020, respectively. The second game to be released was a port of its sequel, One Night at Flumpty's 2, on January 20, 2021, again for Android and iOS. The next game to be released was One Night at Flumpty's 3 on October 31, 2021, for PC and mobile devices, and for consoles at a later date.

On September 16, 2020, during a PlayStation 5 Showcase, it was revealed that Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach would come to PlayStation 5, featuring real-time ray tracing and free-roam gameplay.[23] Its initial release was on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC, with other platforms coming three months later. In December 2020, Cawthon posted that Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach was delayed to 2021, stating the game's scope was too great to be finished by the end of 2020.