Scott Cawthon announced his retirement in June 2021. The statement was posted on his ScottGames website on the night of Wednesday, June 16, 2021, and news outlets, including GameSpot and Game Informer, published their reports on June 17. That one-day gap is why you will see both dates in coverage.
Why two dates appear in coverage
The announcement was described as going up on the evening of Wednesday, June 16, 2021. Reporting that followed was dated June 17, so a search will return June 16 in some places and June 17 in others. Both are correct for the same event. The sources available for this article do not establish the exact posting time or the time zone it was published in, so no more precise timestamp should be assumed.
GameSpot’s article is dated June 17 and says Cawthon wrote the statement on his website. Game Informer’s report is also dated June 17 and links to the original ScottGames post. Both outlets treated the post as the primary source.
What Cawthon said he was retiring from
Cawthon said he was retiring from game development and from his former role with Five Nights at Freddy’s. He did not say the franchise was ending. He said that someone he had chosen and trusted would eventually run the series, and that he would still be around, though not in the capacity he had held before.
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That distinction matters for readers who came across the headline alone. The announcement was about his personal role in making the games, not a declaration that new FNaF projects would stop.
The reasons he gave
Cawthon’s stated reasons centred on his family and on the enjoyment of making games. GameSpot quoted him directly:
“I miss making games for my kids, I miss doing it just for fun, and I miss making RPGs even though I stink at it.”
He said he wanted to focus his attention on his children and to make things for them again, rather than building games on a production schedule. These were the reasons he offered in the post itself.
The controversy around the same time
The announcement came after public criticism of Cawthon’s political donations. That criticism is part of the contemporaneous reporting, and it is fair to describe the timing. It is not, however, a reason Cawthon gave. Game Informer specifically noted that the post did not connect the donations to his decision to retire, so any link between the two should be attributed to news coverage rather than to Cawthon’s own explanation.
What the statement did not establish
- The exact time the post went live, and the time zone it was published in.
- Any detail about who would take over the franchise. Cawthon described a successor he had chosen without naming them in the coverage available here.
- Any announced end date for Five Nights at Freddy’s as a series.
Game Informer also quoted the post’s central line, “All of this to say that I am retiring,” which is the clearest statement of what he was announcing.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The short answer
Scott Cawthon retired from game development and from his role with Five Nights at Freddy’s, announced on the night of June 16, 2021, and reported on June 17, 2021. He presented the decision as a move toward family time and a return to making games for fun, not as an end to the franchise.
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