What if Five Nights at Freddy’s was real? What then? Well, we may be about to find out

If you've ever played a Five Night's at Freddy's game for even 30 minutes, you'll have picked up on the fact that the creepy animatronics are (for the most part) not your mates. However, it seems Chuck E. Cheese is willing to tempt fate ahead of the Five Nights at Freddy's film release by dusting off its own formerly wholesome cast of animal companions.

First reported by Popverse, this is part of the upcoming Five Nights of Fun event taking place in the US, in which loyalty club members can earn free stuff and Halloween-themed prizes between October 9 - 13. Why not Five Night's at Freddy's themed stuff? Well funnily enough, it appears that this isn't an official collaboration between the cheesy pizza chain and the video game IP. In a frankly hilarious twist of fate, it looks as though Chuck E. Cheese is riding the video game's coat tails.

This has been highlighted by Five Nights at Freddy's fans online, who have taken a gander at the event. Much discussion and chuckling has focused on a document that appears to be an internal employee guide advising staff to not make direct references to the FNAF IP during the event. It's important to note that the validity of this document has not been verified, but nonetheless has found itself at the centre of debate on the Five Nights at Freddy's Reddit page.

For a select lucky few among loyalty club members - kids and their parents only we assume for obvious reasons - a final party will be hosted by Chuck E. Cheese on October 27. This is the same day as the Five Nights at Freddy's movie releases to the public, which poses an interesting question. What young Five Nights at Freddy's fan would rather hang around with 9 strangers, locked inside with animatronics they don't care about, rather than head down to the cinema and watch the film? It's not an official collaboration, so it's not like they can show the film to the kids right?

It will remain endlessly amusing to me how far Five Nights at Freddy's has skyrocketed past its inspirations. Did you know Chuck E. Cheese - like various other food chains around the world - retired their robotic mascots? You can't blame the company I suppose - you can't exactly rebrand a family-friendly brand into full-on horror house. Or maybe leaning into that was a smart move in hindsight, as Chuck E. Cheese did go bankrupt back in 2020.

In this writer's opinion, this shameless Five Nights of Fun event does little but highlight that Chuck E. Cheese's best years are way, way behind it. I mean jeez, if Insomnia Cookies can nab an official collaboration with Five Night's at Freddy's for its customer-base of stoners and stoners, it's so over dude. Unless a location's head of security has been slacking off at work. If that's the case, there's a real opportunity here.

If you're a fan of Five Night's at Freddy's you can check out the film when it launches worldwide October 27, and yes you can also pop into a Chuck E. Cheese too if you want some bad vibes and good pizza. Maybe play some DDR.