Five Nights at Freddy’s is a point-and-click, survival-horror game that has taken the gaming world by storm. Having released in August 2014 for PC, the fan-favourite horror series has since then been released across the platforms of Mac, iOS, Android, and even has plans to reach console devices in the future.

The popular horror series was developed by Scott Cawthon – a rather unknown Indie developer that focused mainly on creating Christian-themed games. The success of Five Nights at Freddy’s was far from expected as the relatively unknown game rose to fame after a series of Let’s Plays were uploaded by popular YouTuber’s. Markiplier –a YouTuber with over 17 million subscribers– has received just over 58 million views on his first Let’s Play of the series. That is a pretty amazing feat for someone that was just two years ago, an unknown developer.

One of the most impressive things about the franchise is that Scott Cawthon –the sole developer of the series– created five different sequels for the game over the span of just two years! This is almost unheard of in today’s current gaming industry, which is plagued with constant delays.

With just two years passing since the release of the first game in the series, and well over one billion views on YouTube, it is safe to say that the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise has become a household name for the younger generation.

With that being said, here are 15 things that you may not have known about the popular horror series, Five Nights at Freddy’s.

15 The Initial Trailer Showed Characters With Different Abilities

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Sometimes the development process of a game doesn’t go as smoothly as you might have planned as designs and ideas are constantly changing for the betterment of the game.

In the initial trailer for Five Nights at Freddy’s some eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that Bonnie had the ability to run. But as most of you would know, this was not a feature that was present in the final game. Instead, the ability was given to Foxy, and Bonnie was given the ability to teleport into any room along his path. Scott has yet to give an explanation as to why he decided to their change abilities.

Given just how popular the series quickly became, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Scott had decided to change his initial ideas and designs for the sequels based on feedback that was given by the fans.

14 A Five Nights At Freddy's Film Is Currently In The Works

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Nothing screams success more than having Hollywood knock at your door to gain the rights to turn your game into the next big film franchise. While news first broke about the film adaptation in 2015 when it was revealed that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to the Indie sensation, there as been radio silence since then. The only details that have ever surfaced about the project are potential writers and producers.

I think we can all agree that video game movies are terrible, so when nothing had been heard, fans started to worry that the film would suffer the same fate of most movies and potentially, never see the light of day. Doubts have been cast aside since Scott recently Tweeted a photo revealing that the movie has since changed to Blumhouse Productions - the company behind The Purge and Paranormal Activity.

13 The Original Games Are Set To Release On Consoles

via youtube.com (Dawko)

Given the success of all five games in the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, it comes as no surprise that creator (Scott Cawthon) is in talks with different companies that are interested in releasing the original games on consoles.

The most interesting thing about this information is that when replying to a comment on the Steam forums, Scott stated that —unlike the Android and iOS release of the game— the series would not be ported over but entirely remade. Could this mean new character designs and even enhanced graphics? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Bringing the series to consoles is undoubtedly a game changing experience as it will not only entice players to purchase the games again, but also provide the opportunity for an entirely new audience to experience the series from scratch.

12 Scott Cawthon Voiced Phone Guy In The First Two Games

via freddy-fazbears-pizza.wikia.com

Sometimes when you are short on cash and the sole developer of a videogame, you are forced to take on roles that would have otherwise been outsourced to a voice actor. Thankfully though, Five Nights at Freddy’s isn’t a game that is based heavily around dialog. This would most likely be the main reasons as to why Scott had decided to voice a character in his own game – plus, it would have also saved him a fairly large sum of money.

Due to Scott being a rather unknown developer at the time, many fans have never actually heard him speak and are often very shocked to find out that he was the voice of Phone Guy throughout the series.

11 The Newspaper In FNAF 3 Holds Hidden Facts

via youtube,com (xxProClassGamerxx)

Hidden in the newspaper at the end of Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, are all sorts of awesome facts about the popular horror franchise. While many players would have just focused on the central article about Fazbear’s Fright burning down, many fans of the series made it their mission to decipher the text around the article that was only partially blurry.

Once deciphered, fans were greeted with a number of awesome facts that detail Scott Cawthon’s experiences while developing the game. He even goes as far as explaining that he was almost at the point of giving up on game development completely and was ready to start looking for a new career to pursue.

Another neat fact about this newspaper is that if the image is brightened, fans will notice that Springtrap is standing behind Freddy – creepy, we know!

10 The Game Even Scared Scott Cawthon

via freddy-fazbears-pizza.wikia.com

You know you’ve done something right when you are scared by your own game. While many may argue that Five Nights at Freddy’s isn’t that scary when compared to other horror games on the market, many gamers (apart from the younger audience and over dramatic YouTubers) only found the game to be mildly scary. This was thanks to the obnoxious amount of cheap jump scares that plague the game.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case for the games creator (Scott Cawthon), as he revealed that he once had nightmare that Bonnie was standing in the hall outside of his room – Bonnie is often referred to as the least scary out of all the animatronic. He stated that he rushed to his door but found that it was already locked – a sign from the game that something was already inside the room. Thankfully, Scott awoke before things could get any worse.

9 The Newspaper Mocks You

via tvtropes.org

There is nothing quite like being mocked by the developer of the game. Similar to Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, the newspaper in the initial game holds a number of awesome hidden information that many players had passed off as illegible filler text. However, should fans have paid closer attention; they will have noticed that while the text was blurry, it was blurred in a way that each word was still just barely readable.

The hidden text was deciphered by fans to read "Blah. Blah. Blah, Blah. Blah. This ad has nothing to do with anything relevant to the game. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Chances are you won't make it past night three. Blah. Blah. Yackity Smackity. Blah. Blah. This probably isn't the best choice of a summer job, since you most likely won't survive the week. I'd recommend being a cashier, sack boy, or work in a warehouse. They are all very respectable jobs, and you probably won't be killed by them. Well, you might. But it would be unlikely. Blah. Blah."

This hidden message was posted right next to the help wanted advertisement for the pizzeria – how fitting.

8 Freddy Has A Hand-Print Over His Face

via freddy-fazbears-pizza.wikia.com

One of the most interesting facts that most fans didn’t even notice was that Freddy has a shape that closely resembles a hand-print that sits across the left side of his face. When using a green overlay, the hand-print becomes increasingly clear. Whether the shape is a mere coincidence (which seems very unlikely), many players believe that it may have belonged the Phone Guy as the Toreador March played just before his last call cut out – which is right when Freddy strikes during the power outage.

Many have even speculated that the hand-print could have also belonged to the murdered children, or even when Freddy may have tried to rip off his own head – which was displayed in a poster that would randomly appear when playing throughout the game.

7 The Game Originally Had A Lives Counter

via steamcommunity.com

As we know, video games change very frequently throughout their development cycle, as the developers often find better ways to improve the quality and playing experience of their game. This is exactly what has happened to Scott Cawthon, as it was discovered that the game was initially planned to feature a 'lives' counter. Imagine how different the game would feel if (once you died on the final night), you were able to spawn on the exact same level without having to restart the game.

I think it would be fair to say that a lives counter would have drastically altered the playing experience and may have even caused issues with breaking the player’s immersion within the game as the sense of urgency and survival wouldn’t be as present. Smart choice Scott; you may have just saved your game.

6 There Are Novels Based Around The Game

via youtube.com (Outwitt)

When you create and own one of the biggest indie video game franchises to-date, why not try to capitalize by creating a series of novels that are based closely around the game. I think it is fair to say that being the sole developer of the series, Scott Cawthon won’t be running out of money any time soon.

If you enjoy reading, Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes may be one to add to your list. The novel –which was first released back in 2015— is based very closely around the around the game and tells the origin of the story. A sequel, Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Twisted Ones is also in the works and is set to release in July this year.

5 Five Nights At Freddy’s Originally Had A Kickstarter

via kickstarter.com

We all love a good Kickstarter story, especially when developers get funded far and beyond what they initially expected – take Yooka-Laylee and Shenmue III as prime examples of Kickstarter success. With Yooka-Laylee’s initial pledge of $175,000, the veteran developers were able to bring in just over $2,000,000. But sometimes, Kickstarter's (the ones we never hear of) don’t get the chance to see the light of day.

As unbelievable as it may be, Five Nights at Freddy’s suffered the same fate as after just three days of the campaign going live, Scott decided to cancel the Kickstarter as no funds had been raised towards the games $10,000 pledge. Considering the success of the original game, it begs the question: what could have Five Nights at Freddy’s been if the Kickstarter had actually been funded?

4 The Screams And Laughter Are From Actual Children

via steamcommunity.com

You know when people say that somethings are best left unsaid? Well, this is one of those things. Do you remember those creepy screams and laughter that were present far too much throughout the game? Well, those soundtracks are actually from real children and haven’t been recreated through sound mixing.

This led to many believing the popular fan theory that the screams and laughter were from children that had once been murder in the pizzeria and later trapped inside of the animatronics that had killed them.

Is it just me or did Five Nights at Freddy’s just get even creepier?

3 Scott Cawthon Was The Only Developer

via youtube.com (AaroInTheKnee)

Developing a video game is no easy feat, especially when you are the only developer. Whether you’re creating a simple mobile game or AAA title, most games will have a development team working on them. These teams can range from as little as two members to upwards of 100+ if you’re working in a big company.

This is why Five Nights at Freddy’s is so intriguing, as Scott Cawthon was the sole developer of the series. This leaves Scott with the task of not only managing and marketing the game, but also creating and texturing all assets, scripting dialog, designing all aspects of the game, and even programming every line code.

It’s safe to say that even the most skilled developer would have struggled with such a task. Not to mention that Scott even met ridiculously crazy deadlines for each game in the series.

2 FNAF Was Inspired By Scott’s Previous Game

via chipper-sons-lumber-co.wikia.com

Who would have ever thought that a negative review could be turned into a multi-million dollar idea that would take the gaming world by storm?

Well, that is exactly what Scott Cawthon did, as the idea behind Five Nights at Freddy’s was created when people started to criticize the creepy, animatronic appearance of the characters that were featured in his Christian-themed game, Chipper & Sons Lumber Company – a game based on growing and harvesting trees.

When Scott heard word of these reviews, he was completely heartbroken and ready to give up on game-making entirely. But thankfully, instead of giving up he decided to challenge himself to purposely use the creepy art style to create something that was a lot scarier to spite those that originally criticized his game.

1 Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 Is A Prequel

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This is where things start to get complicated as many fans do not realize that the games are all set in different time periods, and the storylines do not align with the release order of the games.

First in the series is Five Nights at Freddy’s 4, which is where the very first murder occurred (also known as The Bite of ’83). Next in the timeline comes Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location which is the last game to be released in the series. After that is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 which is set around the time of 1987.

Set 20 years after the events of the second game is Five Nights at Freddy’s – which is also the end of Fazbear Entertainment. Last, but not least, comes the events of Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, where you play as a security guard at the horror attraction, Fazbear’s Fright, which is based on the events of the entire Five Nights at Freddy's series.