'Five Nights at Freddy's 4' release date moved to August 2015: Game to be a prequel or sequel?

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 promo imageCawthorn Games

"Five Nights at Freddy's 4" was originally scheduled to be released this Halloween, but according to a report from Cinema Blend, the game is now getting an Aug. 8, 2015 release date. The report cites that game creator Scott Cawthon made the announcement via emails to numerous "Five Nights at Freddy's" streamers on YouTube. 

"I'm going to release 'Five Nights at Freddy's 4' on August 8th for the 1-year anniversary of 'Five Nights at Freddy's'," Cawthon wrote to streamers such as 8-Bit Gaming and Dawkos Games. 

This doesn't mean the original release date won't mean anything. This is, after all, a horror game and Cawthon intends on giving fans something to look forward to.

"To keep the Halloween date special however, I'll be working on a free update with extra content to release October 31st. I also plan on having a trailer ready for next weekend!" he said. 

Cinema Blend says it only makes sense that Cawthon would send this email announcement out to people who stream his video games on YouTube. The report cites that last May, "Five Nights at Freddy's" videos garnered more than 1.2 billion views, more than any other game series apart from "Grand Theft Auto" and "Minecraft." 

In a big way, YouTube videos have served as free marketing for the "Five Nights at Freddy's" franchise.

"Five Nights at Freddy's 4" is speculated to either focus on the "Bite of '87" which would make it a prequel, or it could be a sequel that takes place after the third entry in the franchise. 

The game is also being marketed as the "The Final Chapter" but this doesn't necessarily mean it will be the last game. According to the report, this might be a play on many slasher films which also use "The Final Chapter" subtitles for their films only to end up making more sequels, as is the case with the "Friday the 13th" franchise.