“I can make a triple-A [game] today” - A Way Out director Josef Fares

Josef Fares is a strange, wonderful man. The ideal person to talk to if your job, like mine, is to talk to people and mine quotes from their sentences. Fares is a quote machine.

Whether he’s telling me about his studio motto being ‘f**k s**t up’, or he’s firing shots at King, or he’s telling us his next game will f**k you (not a sex game), he’s like a gold deposit for a games journalist. But does this openness mean he limits his options with who he can partner with?

Fares published A Way Out via EA and his next game will be the same, but he claims to have full autonomy at the publisher.

“The thing is, I say what I want,” Fares told me. “I don’t have any restrictions, I don’t have anyone telling me what to say. EA know this - they know they can’t control me. I am who I am, and people will probably dislike some of what I say.”

During our chat, I spoke to Fares about how his budgets have been increasing with each game, and I wondered if we would ever see a triple-A title from Hazelight.

“I can make a triple-A today, it’s not a problem,” Fares replied. “I think there are many publishers who would say yes.”

On the other hand, there are likely plenty who would say no.

“I don’t have a problem with having an opinion - I personally appreciate people with opinions,” Fares explained. “From that perspective, I think some publishers could think it’s scary because most of the publishers want to control, but I can’t be controlled. It’s impossible.”