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See you on the flipside.

―Scott Cawthon (Phone Guy)

Scott Braden Cawthon (born: June 4, 1978 (1978-06-04) [age 45]) also known as Animdude, is an American former YouTuber and video game designer who is most known for his development and creation of the game series and franchise Five Nights at Freddy's.

History[]

Beginning career[]

Scott Cawthon had developed video games long before Five Nights at Freddy's. On March 19, 2007, he uploaded the first part of an eight-part series, named The Pilgrim's Progress to his YouTube channel, Animdude. The animation is a retelling of John Bunyan's novel of the same name.

After releasing The Pilgrims Progress, Cawthon created several other games including Sit N' Survive, Chipper and Sons Lumber Co., and The Desolate Hope. Some of these were submitted to Steam Greenlight. While The Desolate Hope made it through the process, some games, most notably Chipper and Son Lumber Co., were heavily criticized by prominent reviewers for having characters that moved and interacted with each other like animatronic machines. While initially discouraged, almost to the point of stopping game development completely, Cawthon eventually decided to use the animatronic-like characters to his advantage, sparking the development of Five Nights at Freddy's.

Five Nights at Freddy's series[]

On July 24, 2014, Cawthon submitted Five Nights at Freddy's to IndieDB, where it gained massive popularity. He then submitted it to Desura on August 13, 2014, and also submitted it to Steam Greenlight on June 13, 2014, where it was accepted August 18, 2014. When submitted to Steam Greenlight, a trailer was shortly released on July 14, 2014, with a demo following on July 24, 2014. On August 8, when the game was accepted, the game was released for $4.99 on Steam, and with an iOS and Android release on July 28, 2015. The game was well received by critics and became the subject of a number of popular Let's Play videos on YouTube. Cawthon then went on to develop multiple follow up games, and the original game, Five Nights at Freddy's, will be getting a movie adaption.

Controversy and retiring[]

In 2021, he retired from making games and has handed out the FNAF franchise to another developer group called Steel Wool Studios. He will continue making games as a hobby and for his children.[1] A reason of this due to his allegations to politics, barring donations to multiple Republican politicians, including Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, only donating to one Democrat named Tulsi Gabbard. Some LGBTQ+ and liberal fans in the FNAF community heavily criticized Scott Cawthon. He made a Reddit post that stated

This message isn't specifically directly at the Freddit community; this is just the community that I care about the most and where I choose to post these things. I never cared much for Twitter anyway.

To say that the last few days have been surreal would be an understatement. I've debated greatly how best to address this, including not addressing it at all, but with so many people from the LGBT community in the fanbase that I love, that's not an option. I'd like to think that the last seven years would have given me the benefit of the doubt in regards to how I try to treat people, but there I was, trending on twitter for being a homophobe, getting doxed, with people threatening to come to my house. My wife is six weeks pregnant and she spent last night in fear because of what was being said online. She has already been struggling with her pregnancy so seeing her so afraid really scared me. All this because I exercised my right, and my duty, as an American citizen, to vote for and support the candidates who I felt could best run the country, for everyone, and that's something that I won't apologize for.

For those who took the time to look, you saw that the candidates I supported included men, women, white people, black people, republicans, and democrats. I supported Kimberly Klacik in Baltimore because I believed that she really cared for the African American community there and wanted to pull them out of poverty. I believed she could have really make a difference in a time when so many black communities were struggling. She lost, unfortunately. I supported Tulsi Gabbard, a democrat, even though I disagreed with her on several issues, because I felt she would have been a good and fair president. And yes, I supported President Trump, because I felt he was the best man to fuel a strong economy and stand up to America's enemies abroad, of which there are many. Even if there were candidates who had better things to say to the LGBT community directly, and bigger promises to make, I believed that their stances on other issues would have ended up doing much greater harm to those communities than good. All of this explanation, I fear, is wasted, as people don't want to discuss with one another anymore; they want endless apologies and submission. People who are expecting those from me will get neither.

I've always been supportive of creators, and have tried to treat everyone fairly, and treat everyone with dignity and respect. I've never cared about anyone's race, religion, gender, or orientation. I just treat people as people, everyone the same, and because of that, I've ended up with a very diverse group of people that I've worked with over the years. It wasn't intentional. It just happened that way. I choose people who are best for the job; I treat everyone the same, and I ended up with people from all walks of life in my professional life and my personal life as well. That's the way it should be. That's the way I want it to be. That's the way I will continue to be.

I'm a republican. I'm a Christian. I'm pro-life. I believe in God. I also believe in equality, and in science, and in common sense. Despite what some may say, all of those things can go together. That's not an apology or promise to change, it's the way it's always been.

If I get cancelled, then I get cancelled. I don't do this for the money anymore; I do it because I enjoy it. If people think I'm doing more harm than good now, then maybe it's better that I get cancelled and retire. I would accept that. I've had a fulfilling career. Besides, most things that people can take from you are things that never had much value to begin with.

I have always loved, and will continue to love, this community and this fanbase, even if someday it doesn't include me anymore.

―Scott Cawthon's final Reddit post

[2]

He was also doxxed, in which he received threats of violence and home invasion. While the reaction to his Reddit post was positive, reaction was mixed on social media sites like Twitter, where some members of the LGBTQ+ community, who make up a significant portion of the fan base of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, reacted negatively. Supporters of Scott would begin the Twitter trend, #istandbyscott.

Personal life[]

Cawthon was born in Houston, Texas. He is the father of 5 children and currently lives in Salado, Texas. He is also credited as part of Hope Animations, a "project of Christian animators aiming to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ." He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Houston, Texas and also has released several independent films, such as Noah's Ark, A Christmas Journey, and Jesus' Kids Club.

References[]

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