Latest Five Nights at Freddy's game pulled from Steam

Five Nights at Freddy's was withdrawn from the Steam gaming platform

The developer of the horror video game series Five Nights at Freddy's (FNaF) has withdrawn the latest instalment, citing poor reviews.

Scott Cawthon said he had arranged for anyone who bought the game on the Steam platform to be able to claim a refund.

And, after admitting he had rushed it, he said he would rework the game and make it free once it was rereleased.

The game received relatively positive feedback from Steam users but negative reviews from critics.

FNaF is a series of horror games that proved popular thanks to its creepy characters and jump-scares.

"Even though the game had a 'very positive' rating with 87%, I was not satisfied with the reviews and ratings it was getting," Mr Cawthon said.

For that reason, he said, he had decided to remove the game from Steam, a platform used to distribute software digitally to desktop computers.

Time limit

He said he had asked the US company Valve, which runs Steam, to "make it so that the game can be refunded regardless of the amount of the time it has been owned, meaning that anyone can get a refund at any time".

Games bought on the platform normally have a time limit, after which refunds are not usually given.

Mr Cawthon said that, once he had finished it, the demo currently available on the gaming platform GameJolt would be replaced with the full version.

"I'm still going to work on FNaF World and polish it up. I'm busy creating a fully 3D overworld for the game. From this point forward, the game will always be free.

"I appreciate your support, and I encourage you all to refund your Steam game (even if you enjoyed the game), and download the new version when it becomes available on GameJolt," he wrote on the Steam page dedicated to the previous instalment in the FNaF series.

'Too eager'

The withdrawn game, which was released last Thursday, is a spin-off of the FNaF series and differs from the first four.

In a statement posted on the FNaF World page last week, Mr Cawthon wrote: "You know, I've been accused of rushing my games ever since FNaF 1, but I've never felt that I'd released a game too early… until now."

He admitted the latest game was incomplete and that he "got too eager to show the things that were finished".

"I neglected to pay attention to the things that weren't," he said, apologising to fans of the series.