Blumhouse Productionsmade a big stance as a voice of the horror genre with their first-ever The Business of Fear event, which took place in Hollywood, California. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum was in attendance, as was Atomic Monster CEO James Wan, along with horror author Stephen Follows, to discuss the expansion of horror in recent years across various sub-genres. The event also served as an opportunity for the production company to announce that they’re adapting one of the most popular paranormal first-person horror games to hit the market in recent years.
Per Deadline, Blumhouse Productions is moving forward with an adaptation of the horror gamePhasmophobia. No details were given about a writer or director for the project, but it will be produced by Blumhouse and Wan’sAtomic Monsteralongside Kinetic Games Limited, the studio behind the popular game first released in 2020. This should serve as great news for fans of the game, as its popularity has grown significantly since it was first launched. No stranger to video game adaptations, Blumhouse is set to releasethe highly-anticipated sequeltoFive Nights of Freddy’slater this year.
What Is ‘Phasmophobia’?
Phasmophobiais aparanormalfirst-person horror game where one to four players work to settle a contract where they have to identify the type of ghost that is haunting any given location. Ghost haunting has been popular in pop culture, particularly on television, and the game is mostly based on this particular hobby. The title gained major popularity in October 2020 when Twitch streamers and YouTubers began playing it and, in the process, made it the sixth-most popular game on Twitch during that month. Check out the official description forPhasmophobia:
“Phasmophobia is a 4-player, online co-op, psychological horror game. You and your team of paranormal investigators will enter haunted locations filled with paranormal activity and try to gather as much evidence as you can. Use your ghost-hunting equipment to find and record evidence to sell on to a ghost removal team.”
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It also became the best-selling game on Stream worldwide for many weeks between October and November 2020. Since its release,Phasmophobiahas reached global sales of 23 million and has become a prominent player in multiplayer horror gaming. Reviews of the game have also been positive, with several gaming critics stating that it’s one of the best ghost games ever made. It was offered early access on Microsoft Windows and has since been made available on Playstation 5, Playstation VR2 and Xbox Series platforms, where it has also proven to be very successful.
Blumhouse became interested in seeking out content likePhasmophobiafollowing a survey they commissioned in 2024, where they classified 100 horror films from the past 50 years into sub-genres. The results indicated that the paranormal is one of the most thriving of the sub-genres, while other viable options include slasher, survival, and psychological thrillers. It appears that the production company really wants to narrow down the type of films they should be making moving forward to truly engage their audience.
