Split Fiction Director Slams Microtransactions

Microtransactions – very few enjoy them, but many people are now adopting a permissive attitude about them. According to Split Fiction director Josef Fares, microtransactions contribute to the creative death of the gaming industry.

Fares has never been a fan of the practice of monetising aspects of a game, saying “no loot boxes, no microtransactions, no bullshit” when Split Fiction was first announced. Given that Split Fiction’s friend pass allows two people to use one copy to play the game, it’s clear Fares isn’t in the business of extracting as much as possible from his studio’s fans.

Creative Death

In a video reacting to YouTube comments (from Fall Damage), Fares re-iterated his hatred for microtransactions. In response to a comment praising the studio’s no microtransactions policy, Fares said “Of course, that goes for everything we do at Hazelight. I think those kinds of shifts affect the design of how the game should be done. Every time you make a design decision based on you making more money in the game, I think it’s a huge problem, and it’s stopping our industry from being creative.” In the same video, Fares clapped back against a commenter who called Split Fiction “feminist propaganda” because of its two woman protagonists.

Split Fiction currently holds the highest average score of 2025 on OpenCritic (90), tied with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds. So, at the very least, Fares’ statements are supported by critical perception. There’s a chance that Split Fiction could have been more commercially successful without the friend pass, or through wringing out a couple of extra dollars with microtransactions but then fans are annoyed and may not purchase future games from the studio. It’s short-term thinking.

Fares highlights that games with microtransactions may not turn out as good as they could be because a creative vision was compromised in favour of maximising monetary gain. There’s not a single creative in the industry who thinks that including microtransactions elevates the experience for players.

Hazelight appears to be going from success to success, with Split Fiction currently holding a higher critic score than It Takes Two, which famously won game-of-the-year at the 2021 Game Awards. Our editor-in-chief Stacey Henley said “Split Fiction is Hazelight at the pinnacle of couch co-op,” in her 4/5 review. Split Fiction is currently available on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.

Action

Adventure

Sci-Fi

Fantasy

Released

March 6, 2025

ESRB

T For Teen // Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Language, Violence