WI:No Five Nights at Freddy's?

Title says it all Let's say as our POD that Scott Cawthon is completely discouraged by his failures and decides to leave game development altogether. What happens? Granted, Pewdiepie was already the most subscribed star of Youtube but I imagine, while Markiplier would still be very popular(He was already in the high 200s by this point and growing rapidly.), He may not rise to the Top 100, let alone the Top 10. While Let's Plays would most likely remain popular, Horror LPs specifically might drop off a bit. Another game might jump in to fill the Horror Void like the Amnesia sequel A Machine For Pigs. Game Theory is gonna have a much harder time getting major without a big vein to hit. How would this effect the Indie Game community as a whole? Maybe Minecraft remains more popular in LPs. Who knows? Maybe Undertale could slot in a year afterwards and become TTL's Hyper-Analyzed Indie Sensation of the late 2010s. Your thoughts?
 
You already addressed it somewhat in your OP, but yeah big name Youtubers will have to find something else to have exaggerated reactions to.
 
At least we wouldn't have to deal with seeing the laughable first two versions of the animatronic creature things to deal with; I'm sorry but I'm not convinced that you can pull off some scares with Muppet rejects (though to be fair the last two games got that frightening part right with the creatures looking more and more hideous).
 
They'll probably find another indie horror game to play. If Cawthon wasn't going to fill that gap, someone would have down the line.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
Title says it all Let's say as our POD that Scott Cawthon is completely discouraged by his failures and decides to leave game development altogether. What happens? Granted, Pewdiepie was already the most subscribed star of Youtube but I imagine, while Markiplier would still be very popular(He was already in the high 200s by this point and growing rapidly.), He may not rise to the Top 100, let alone the Top 10. While Let's Plays would most likely remain popular, Horror LPs specifically might drop off a bit. Another game might jump in to fill the Horror Void like the Amnesia sequel A Machine For Pigs. Game Theory is gonna have a much harder time getting major without a big vein to hit. How would this effect the Indie Game community as a whole? Maybe Minecraft remains more popular in LPs. Who knows? Maybe Undertale could slot in a year afterwards and become TTL's Hyper-Analyzed Indie Sensation of the late 2010s. Your thoughts?
Jim Sterling completely crushes his dreams? Well, this is a new one for me.

Something else will come along. I know that's a bit of a cop out answer, but really that's the truth. Of course thought you'll have effects- Game Theory won't have FNAF to propel it into the spotlight, obviously, though the channel still still grow. Minecraft was on it's way out at this point, and Undertale didn't really hit the sweet spot that FNAF did, though would be a shade more popular (and more analyzed).
 
I feel like without FNAF, gaming channels (except for PewDiePie who was getting popular just because he was big) would not be as big. If just from the butterflies, I could see Markiplier only being as big as, say, BlastphamousHD, and Jacksepticeye never even really coming about. Overall, it would help pre-Youtuber-centric Youtube cling on for a few more years like the Byzantines in Constantinople, but YouTube was changing.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
I feel like without FNAF, gaming channels (except for PewDiePie who was getting popular just because he was big) would not be as big. If just from the butterflies, I could see Markiplier only being as big as, say, BlastphamousHD, and Jacksepticeye never even really coming about. Overall, it would help pre-Youtuber-centric Youtube cling on for a few more years like the Byzantines in Constantinople, but YouTube was changing.
They were already really big, and it was already a shift either there or firmly on its way, and FNAF was more a symptom of it rather than a cause. Though I agree that Markiplier wouldn't be as big.
 
They were already really big, and it was already a shift either there or firmly on its way, and FNAF was more a symptom of it rather than a cause. Though I agree that Markiplier wouldn't be as big.
FNAF was the main trigger of the massive change. Sure, there will still be many big youtubers, but I could see there being more 1-10 mil subs than a few 10-15 mil subs and then PewDiePie.

I wonder if it would keep a lot of drama from happening, since there would be many more youtubers period, so they wouldn't really have time to do drama.
 

Deleted member 96212

The world would be a much better place, that's for damn sure. :p

For a more in-depth answer, I have to agree with the others and say many currently popular YT channels wouldn't be whefe they are now. Markiplier and Game Theory would be the hardest hit by this change, as FNAF got them some of their most popular videos and millions of new subscribers. Pewdiepie would actually be the least sffected by the change, as FNAF doesn't click with Pewdie's fanbase the same way it does for, say, Mark's.

Personally I doubt something would take FNAF's place ITTL. It's like killing Hitler before he becomes the leader of Germany. Nothing can truly take his place; the same goes for FNAF.
 
The world would be a much better place, that's for damn sure. :p

For a more in-depth answer, I have to agree with the others and say many currently popular YT channels wouldn't be whefe they are now. Markiplier and Game Theory would be the hardest hit by this change, as FNAF got them some of their most popular videos and millions of new subscribers. Pewdiepie would actually be the least sffected by the change, as FNAF doesn't click with Pewdie's fanbase the same way it does for, say, Mark's.

Personally I doubt something would take FNAF's place ITTL. It's like killing Hitler before he becomes the leader of Germany. Nothing can truly take his place; the same goes for FNAF.
Again, I was thinking maybe Undertale. Not in terms of horror but in terms of "Indie game with an ultra-complicated plot that gets picked through and analyzed to death by everyone and their cat." I mean, it already got lots of that, just on Tumblr and not Youtube. That's what happens when you inherit a fanbase from Homestuck.:p
 

Deleted member 96212

Again, I was thinking maybe Undertale. Not in terms of horror but in terms of "Indie game with an ultra-complicated plot that gets picked through and analyzed to death by everyone and their cat." I mean, it already got lots of that, just on Tumblr and not Youtube. That's what happens when you inherit a fanbase from Homestuck.:p

Fun fact: the UT and FNAF fandoms actually hate each other with a passion. I know because I've started flame wars on other sites between them. :p

More seriously, I doubt that UT will take the place of FNAF ITTL. They're too different for one to replace the other. FNAF's absence is boing to mean a lot more than UT gaining in popularity.
 

CECBC

Banned
Horror games would be less popular. FNAF was that big, accessible horror game that everybody was talking about. Without it horror games would exist but they'd be much more obscure.


As a side not the small animatronics fandom wouldn't see the resurgence it did because of FNAF. I know people that ending up buying thousands of dollars worth of animatronic because FNAF sparked their interest in the animatronics they enjoyed as kids.
 
Less happy afternoons watching silly, stupid but entertaining (in a "guilty pleasures" way) videos with my little brother for me.
 
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