Building on the success of It Takes Two, Hazelight Studios is implementing the Friend's Pass feature in their latest venture, Split Fiction. This allows players who own the game to invite a friend for online co-op sessions, even if the friend doesn't own a copy.

Hazelight Studios, known for its award-winning co-op experiences like A Way Out and the critically acclaimed It Takes Two, has consistently championed accessible cooperative gameplay. Led by Josef Fares, the studio achieved tremendous success with It Takes Two, selling over 20 million copies and winning Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021. Now, they are bringing this successful model to Split Fiction.

A significant enhancement for Split Fiction is the inclusion of cross-play support across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, alongside the returning Friend's Pass feature. This marks the first Hazelight Studios title to offer cross-platform play.  For the Friend's Pass to function, one player must own the game and the other must download the Friend's Pass. The game owner then sends an invite, which the other player accepts in-game to begin playing.  Hesitant players can even experience a trial version using the Friend's Pass and seamlessly transfer their progress to the full game if one player decides to purchase it.

With the official inclusion of Friend's Pass, Split Fiction becomes the third consecutive Hazelight Studios title to offer this feature, following A Way Out and It Takes Two.  Other developers have embraced similar models, such as Rainbow Six Extraction with its Buddy Pass, enabling co-op play with only one owner.

As Split Fiction's release date approaches, Hazelight Studios is already looking ahead. In February, Josef Fares revealed that the team has begun development on their next project, which may or may not continue their focus on co-op gameplay.