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Almost everybody knows who Jason Voorhees is, and if they don’t know the name they know the mask. If they don’t know the mask, they probably still have heard the words “Friday the 13th" and felt some kind of significance to it. If you’re one of the few people that don’t know, Jason Voorhees is somewhat of a horror icon. He’s fallen down on his luck due to some copyright issues that have kept him from making a return in any way, shape, or form. But with copyrights finally settling into the hands they belong in, will we see the return of the hockey masked killer?

Jason Voorhees Gaming History

Jason Voorhees has had his fair share of beloved video games, cherished by both gaming and horror communities. Jason has appeared in numerous games, from full-fledged titles to cameos and fan-made projects. His journey began with the retro classic, Friday the 13th: The Computer Game, released in 1985 for home computers like the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. This game is relatively unknown, either because it predates many players or due to the limited access to computer games at the time.

A more familiar retro entry is Friday the 13th for the NES, released in 1989. This action-adventure game tasked players with helping camp counselors defeat Jason Voorhees.

In modern times, Jason's appearances range from puzzle games to an impressive number of fighting game features. In 2006, Friday the 13th: Road to Hell was a side-scrolling slasher-style beat 'em up. Interestingly, after the license expired, HeroCraft republished it under the parody name Thursday the 12th, featuring Jason’s distant cousin (not really) Slayson. In 2018, the mobile game Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle was released, where players solved puzzles to help Jason kill counselors.

Given Jason's aggressive nature, it’s fitting he appeared in fighting games. Surprisingly, he has featured in three different fighting games. Terrordome: Rise of the Boogeyman, a fan-made retro-style fighting game that pits your favorite horror icons against each other in all-out brawls. In Mortal Kombat X, Jason was part of a DLC pack with Leatherface, Alien, and Predator—one of my favorite Mortal Kombat DLCs. And his latest appearance is in Multiversus, a smash-style platform fighter with various Warner Bros. characters. Jason's addition has reignited my excitement for the game and even got me to play it more.

Perhaps Jason’s most popular game appearance was in Illfonic’s Friday the 13th, released in 2017 for consoles and PC. Many players, myself included, have fond memories of late-night sessions with friends. Alongside Dead By Daylight, this game sparked a wave of asymmetrical horror games. However, due to legal battles over the rights to Friday the 13th and Jason Voorhees, the game stopped receiving updates and was eventually shut down—a somber day for fans. But the purpose of this article is to convey hope: we may soon see our favorite masked killer make a grand return.

The Battle

The legal battles involving Jason Voorhees and the Friday the 13th franchise center around a dispute over the rights to the original screenplay and characters. Victor Miller, the writer of the original 1980 film, sought to reclaim the rights to his script under the U.S. Copyright Act's termination provisions. In 2018, a court ruled in Miller's favor, granting him the U.S. rights to the original screenplay. However, Sean Cunningham, the film's director and producer, and his company, Horror Inc., disputed this, claiming they owned the franchise rights, including the character of Jason Voorhees. This ongoing legal battle created uncertainty about the future of the franchise and hindered new films, games, and other media projects related to Friday the 13th.

This long fought legal battle about who owns what and what can be used where left fans wondering what would happen to Voorhees. However, recently these lawsuits finally settled which has sparked some hope into my eyes and hopefully many other fans as well. Don’t worry I’ll give you a quick synopsis of who owns what because you know that it couldn’t just be simple.

Stay with me now, the lawsuit over the rights to Friday the 13th reached a pivotal moment in 2021 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of Miller. The court upheld that Miller had the right to reclaim the U.S. copyright to his screenplay under the termination provisions of the U.S. Copyright Act. This decision granted Miller the rights to the original 1980 screenplay within the United States. However, Cunningham and Horror Inc. retained the rights to the character of adult Jason Voorhees and the franchise as it evolved in subsequent films, leading to a complex split in rights. While the ruling resolved some aspects of the dispute, it left the franchise's future projects in a state of legal limbo, requiring negotiation between the parties for any new Friday the 13th films or media.

Where Can He Go Now?

After all the legal battles, there's now a glimmer of hope with the newly announced Jason Universe. Seeing Jason make his grand return in Multiversus suggests he might still have a future in gaming.

The exact details of the Jason Universe haven't been revealed yet. It appears to be a multimedia initiative encompassing all things Jason Voorhees. Whether this will be a positive development remains to be seen—it could either be a disaster that makes us wish they had left Jason alone or the greatest horror revival ever. We'll have to wait and see.

Regarding video games, this multimedia approach could mean new Friday the 13th games or even the revival of existing ones. The Jason Universe Twitter account follows the Friday the 13th: The Game Twitter page. While this isn’t an official confirmation, it's at least an acknowledgment, hinting that we might see new updates in the future. Even without updates, we could get entirely new games, or maybe Voorhees will join the roster of horror icons in Dead By Daylight—a collaboration that fans have been requesting for a long time.

There's so much potential for Voorhees with today's technology. Imagine a VR game where you play as Jason Voorhees, or a single-player horror game where you are a camp counselor on the run from an adaptive AI Jason. The possibilities are endless, and I'm excited to see Jason make his return to gaming.

What about you, what do you think will happen with Jason Voorhees?