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What happens to FNAF in 2026? Since the release of Secret of the Mimic, I've noticed a trend on FNAF YouTube that says a lot about the state of the franchise and why its audience feels the way it does. Hello, internet. Welcome to Game Theory, the show that's actually starting to miss that creepy old bear. It's been over a year since Secret of the Mimic, eight months since the second movie, and basically nothing else. There have been no new games or new books. The closest thing was Scott appearing on Dawko's live stream to tell us he's working on a sequel, but nothing about when it will be released. Five Nights was supposed to be released this year, but we haven't heard anything about it. We didn't
even get any Steel Wool DLC. Instead, they only showed us these advances, and believe me, we'll get there. Those teasers ended up announcing Security Breach 2, and we had an announcement from Mega Cat Studios about FNAF World 2. But the point is, it's been a pretty dry season for FNAF recently in terms of physical content. And it's the longest one we've had in years. Normally, we could fill the void with books or constant discoveries in massive environments, as we saw with Security Breach , but not this time. And that has led to something very interesting. For the first time, FNAF theorists have nothing to talk about, which has left some a little worried. A large part of theorizing involves looking into the future, trying to decipher
history in order to know what will come next. I mean, look at the number of predictions I made about Secret of the Mimic. But, with nothing new to talk about, there's nothing new to work with. Instead, we're stuck with the story that exists now, and that has caused something really strange. As I followed theorists across the YouTube space, I noticed that the new videos they posted almost all had a similar theme. What do you notice in this video? What about this one? This other one? And what about all of these? What do they all have in common? They all focus on the Afton gaming era, from FNAF 1 to Ultimate Custom. And it's not just me pointing the finger at others. My first
FNAF theory of this year was a thought experiment about whether there are two Mikes, another character from the Afton era. From time to time, a theory emerges centered on Secret of the Mimic or Security Breach. Jon FNAF really did a fantastic one recently about the original Security Breach storyline. But the overwhelming majority of theories in the last year have focused on these ancient games, and I find that fascinating. Given the amount of pure information in games like Security Breach, to the point that people are still finding new clues, why not delve deeper into that? When we had a game with such a solid story as Secret of the Mimic, why do the theorists move on so quickly? When we have mysteries like Chica's damn secret party, why do people
talk about the old days? Well, theorists, I did some in- depth research on this. So now I'll take you on that journey, because the answers I found by reflecting on our theories and talking with other space theorists revealed some really interesting things about how the franchise has evolved over the years, what the state of FNAF is in 2026, and why the theorizing has taken the direction it has. What is the main objective of theorizing about FNAF? I'll give you a second to write them in the comments. And while they're doing that, maybe they can just press that subscription button. Are they finished yet? Brilliant. As far as I and
many other theorists are concerned, the main reason we theorize is to decipher history. From day one, the story of FNAF was cryptic, hidden, and vague. There's a reason our first video used a real Chuck-E-Cheese event as an allegory, because otherwise, there's not much to go on. Over time, more and more has been added to the story, but that doesn't mean the clues are any less cryptic. Now, there were secret minigames that you unlocked if you died or wrote random codes on the wall tiles. Then, 12 years have passed and we still don't fully understand the story. But this is where the division arises. As I mentioned, FNAF is divided into two halves, the Scott era and the Steel Wool era. Or, if you want to
stick to the names of the universe, the Afton era and the Mimic era. The Mimic era still continues, but the Afton era, technically speaking, is over. Sure, the Mimic era still throws us things like Afton's email to buy Murray's disguise in Secret of the Mimic or Vanessa being related to Afton in some way, but overall, the Afton era is completely over. Their story is over. We began with a man who killed five children in a back room and stuffed them into suits, and ended with a man trapped in purgatory, forever tortured by the souls of one of his victims. It's a pretty clean and cathartic ending. However, even with the end of the two, let's call them A plots, there were still many mysteries to be solved. Who was the vengeful spirit?
What is the name of the crying child? What's in the box? But with Ultimate Custom Night, it felt like one last hurrah for Scott. It seemed like he was actively trying to tie up loose ends. Which would mean that everything needed to solve those mysteries was available to us. We just needed to look deeper. Yes, Scott could come in and add more context in future games, as I said, but technically speaking, everything we need should be right here in these games. This idea, I believe, was solidified when the Mimic was fully introduced to us in recent games. Thanks to the idea that Glitchtrap may just be a corrupted Mimic AI program that was trained on Afton's data, it means that Afton is truly gone from the story. His
legacy would continue to have an impact on future events, but his story has ended. And that idea of a closed loop, where all the pieces are in place for us, is incredibly appealing as theorists, because it would offer us a foundation on which to build all future theories, instead of just being this Jenga tower that will collapse if one piece of information changes. And with so many small details unresolved, we all go back to those old games to try and see if we can solidify our foundations before moving on, leading to an influx of theories about those unsolved mysteries. It doesn't help that the story we've worked out from that era, at least on a basic level, simply feels like a better story than the one we're getting now. The details and order of
events are still hotly debated, but the story of the first games is the story of a family that encountered tragedy after tragedy. The older son bullies the younger son until one day he goes too far and is bitten by one of the animatronics at his father's work . The daughter is captured by one of her father's creations. The father, whether out of compassion or a desperate desire for knowledge, sets out to reunite the family, killing a group of children and experimenting to see if their souls could continue to live on and even be brought back. The eldest son also ends up being captured. However, he does not die and continues trying to repair everything he and his father did, eventually reducing everything to ashes. Again, the order and
specific details vary depending on the theorist, but the central concept is very solid. Afton is a very convincing villain. He attacks children, so our minds immediately label him as the most evil type of character. If you believe that he truly cared for his children and that his actions stemmed from misguided love, then it becomes even more fascinating, as he is essentially a heartbroken man who made a mistake and went mad over it. Michael's arc, from abusive older brother to altruistic hero, is a fantastic journey. And after several games with him, it feels great when he finally wins, closing the loop in our minds and absolving him. Even David, the crying boy, and Elizabeth are
interesting characters to follow. One who desires nothing more than to make Dad proud, regardless of the evil, because she simply doesn't know any better; And another who is so broken and scared that other spirits must join together to help him find peace. These characters are so interesting because we can connect with them on a certain level. We might have felt that loss, or the fear, or the desire to make up for past mistakes. Or is it simply the fact that we like to see stories of humans triumphing over other humans whom we consider evil? The problem with the story we have now is that there are really no humans in it. Of those we have, we know so little that we don't even know if we can call them heroes. Gregory was evil,
then he wasn't, but maybe he still is. And aside from killing a few therapists, we know nothing about his life before or after Security Breach that makes us connect with him. We have some history with Vanessa, but since it's not clear whether she's an Afton or just a random girl, it's hard to know how much emotional investment we should put in her. Cassie seems nice. She was a friendless girl until Gregory appeared, but what else? His father worked for Fazbear and we think we play as him in Help Wanted 2, but what is their relationship? We don't know. And the main villain in all of this, a
robot with AI. They tried to give him an origin story that would evoke empathy. He was just a child, his father beat him and he lost his legs. But at the end of the day, we simply can't connect with a robot in the same way we connect with a human who was abused by their father, as we saw in Afton's arc. I'm not saying we can never identify with robots. Certain films do an excellent job of this. It's just that FNAF isn't one of them. However, Scott and Steel Wool attempted to address this lack of a tragic and relatable human element with Secret of the Mimic, introducing us to the Murray family. A wife who dies tragically in a fire, a son who dies in the factory's loading area, and a father so obsessed with his work
that he neglected them both until one day his own creation kills him. That's a fascinating story. The problem is that, in the modern part of the story, they are all dead now, at least as far as we can tell. Which means that, although they created the right kind of characters and backstories, we don't value them much because they are no longer present to continue affecting the story as David and Elizabeth did. And so, creators are naturally more drawn to these older games because the characters, their stories, and their motivations are simply much more interesting to discuss and explore. Did William care or not? Is the crying child actually a vengeful spirit, not so submissive?
Was William the drunken father in Midnight Motorist, or was he someone else? All these questions are much more interesting, as they change our perspective on these characters and their actions. They turn them into three-dimensional characters instead of simple archetypes. And there's a lot of information to draw from compared to the characters of the more recent era, who have so little to show us. Okay, maybe I'm getting a little worked up about this. I'm really passionate about this particular topic. But thankfully, I can vent to today's sponsor, War Thunder. If you don't know it, War Thunder is the most complete vehicular combat game ever created. You can take command of more than 2,500 different tanks, planes, helicopters, and ships from
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Eagle of Valor decoration, and 7 days of premium account. Thanks again to War Thunder for sponsoring this video, but now let's get back to finding out what 's going on with FNAF. Of course, YouTube was always going to play a role in why YouTubers choose to talk about certain topics. It's no secret that FNAF has always done quite well on YouTube. It's what really propelled this channel into the stratosphere and launched the careers of so many other FNAF theorists we know and love today. But in recent times, there's something else that's been working well across the platform: nostalgia. You've probably seen them, those long video essays about old cartoons or video games from your childhood that you thought nobody else knew about.
As a personal example, I love Caddicarus. Its content is simply great, but it perfectly connects with my nostalgia, since I was a PlayStation kid. I know, how sad. But when he puts out a multi-hour video about a Rugrats game, he immediately recommends it to me. Audiences love nostalgia. They love to reminisce about simpler times, so YouTube favors these videos to some extent. Therefore, people who talk about the old FNAF meet the criteria much better. People feel nostalgic for the old days of FNAF.
They want you to read the book about the Mimic. I know nothing about the Mimic. Why would they change FNAF? FNAF is FNAF For people like me, FNAF has been a big part of my adult life. It came out when I was 20 years old. But for others, it was literally their childhood. Those who are now 20 started watching it when they were eight. So, regardless of how old you were at the time, this franchise, and specifically those old games, are nostalgic for you, reminding you of a simpler time when you just sat around watching a deep-voiced man yell at a screen, or some theater fanatic go crazy trying to make connections about the story. Therefore, YouTube is more than happy to recommend those videos to you, which also means
that when creators make videos about nostalgic topics like the old FNAF, they get recommended more and more. Suddenly, they can hire an editor or a miniature artist. Oh wow, maybe they can finally dedicate themselves to this YouTube thing full-time. So people want to make more videos on the topic because that's what's working in the spirit of the times on YouTube right now. But this also connects to my next point, which is that, with that aging audience, there is another side effect: the emergence of new theorists. As I said, in 2014, you had people like Matt, Dawko, AJP Ryan, or Razbowski giving their opinions, which stirred up the fandom. The children and young people began to create their own theories. Perhaps they
shared them with their friends. Perhaps they shared them with some people online, in comments, on Twitter or Reddit. But, in reality, those theories were forgotten, stored deep in their minds. Twelve years have now passed. Those young people who watched those videos and created their own theories have now grown up. And some decided: "You know what? I'm going to share my own theories with the world." If you add that to the lack of new FNAF content, we start to see new YouTubers emerge. In the drought following Security Breach, we saw people like John FNAF, Rye Toast, ID's Fantasy, HyperDroid, and many more gain popularity for their fresh approaches to the franchise. In
the recent drought following Secret of the Mimic, we've seen things like T Dreads, Unwithered Truth, Gibby's Horror Homestead, She's Always Awkward, and, again, many others. And in a few years, I'm sure we'll see even more. But this means that all those theories that people created so many years ago are now seeing the light of day. They want to share what has been bubbling inside them for years, because that's what made them fall in love with the franchise. It's not that they hate the new things, it's just that they haven't had much time to reflect on them. Which theory do you think will be more solid? The one you've been thinking about for a year, or the one you've been mulling over for 10 years? And so, with
each new wave of theorists, we see a wave of old-school theories, because they have kept them for so long and finally want to share their ideas. Finally, we come to what I believe is the biggest reason why theorists prefer to talk about ancient games. The new games are, to be honest, a bit of a mess. And I mean that in several different ways. To begin, let's talk about how Steel Wool makes trailers. I hope you're ready for a little complaining. Recently, Steel Wool has been posting things that are, quote-unquote, not teasers. But come on, guys, these are definitely improvements.
We even got the announcement of Security Breach 2 at the end. So naturally, when they say something like that, all the theorists want to take a closer look. The problem is that there's really nothing to see. Some have made videos about these previews, talking about things like the rings being the same color as the Glamrock, so it 's clearly from the Security Breach era. Or it's in a swimming pool, so maybe it's a virtual reality experience similar to what we see in the drowning story. But that's basically all we can say about it. Even in the last one, where they essentially advertise Security Breach 2 by hiding a 2 inside Vanny's eye. Great, we've learned that a new game is coming, but anything about it will be pure speculation at best
, because these images tell us nothing. Even with the trailers they released, they're fine as trailers. They show a lot of great moments, but for theorists, they leave much to be desired. Both Security Breach and The Mimic and Help Wanted 2 were narrated by Fazbear's classic voice saying that the job is bad, but you'll probably be okay. There are Easter eggs like Monty's cutout or the ports of the Keyface, but they are more like aimless pieces, because we have no idea where the story is going. In the past, we used to get a lot of sneak peeks on Scott's website that were full of little secret mysteries. Whether it was turning up the brightness to reveal a phrase we had to
solve, or being told that the game was canceled due to gas leaks, only to turn up the brightness again and reveal that it was a news article about a location in the game's universe. We reviewed the source code to reveal a conversation between Baby and the Funtime animatronics that told us that Baby was expelled from Ennard. These were things that excited us. It felt like they were building the world and telling us things that we could connect to previous games and books to help us predict what might happen next and explain more of that story. But now it just feels like we're being taken for a ride. They're presented in a way that implies there's a mystery to solve, but it also feels so
disconnected, as if the main puzzle piece is hidden until the game comes out, meaning we can't really do anything about it. Sometimes I wonder if this goes back to Steel Wool and their Security Breach trailer. I'm sure we all remember this iconic trailer. We made a theory based on that trailer, as we do with most great trailers, trying to predict what it meant for the next game and its story. Matt later said that Steel Wool emailed him asking if he had someone on the inside passing him information. Woo! It seems we were right. And then, none of that story appeared in the final game. Now, I'm not going to get into a debate here about whether they changed
history. That has already been discussed ad nauseam. But what I wonder is if that case, in which they gave us a really convincing trailer and we supposedly got it right, means that now they're afraid of giving us too much. If they give us too much to work with, maybe we'll crack the game, which in his mind could end up in two ways. Either we guess the story and when the game comes out, we're disappointed because there are no surprises. Or we guess the story, but the game changes, as often happens with game development. And then, once again, nothing they presented appears in the game. And that's why we all got angry because we didn't get what we thought we were going to get. I'm not saying they have to reveal everything in a trailer.
Absolutely not. In fact, that's a big problem in Hollywood right now. What I'm saying is that you can have a trailer or preview that gives a little bit of narrative direction, and if you're smart enough to put it together with other parts of the previews and trailers, or even the books, it can tell you the story. But, for most people, it will simply go unnoticed. I understand. It's a difficult situation. But right now it seems they've gone too far to the other extreme, so afraid of giving us something we can actually work with that we end up with these empty and provocative posts that, sure, some might use to make a quick 15-minute video or argue in a live stream, but it's just a passing thing. It does n't really fill the content void like the
old teasers and trailers used to. And so, people returned to solving the old mysteries of FNAF because there is enough material to work with, enough to make a real theory instead of pure speculation. And here's the thing: that lack of direction in the story isn't just for the new developments that are coming out. It's also been a problem we've felt throughout the Steel Wool era. I 've already talked about how old stories feel more captivating than new ones, especially in terms of themes like the villain. But it is also more captivating for theorists because the game clarifies very well what mysteries we are trying to solve. Here's the obvious villain, the purple guy, so we try to figure out who he is. Here, we learn about the five
missing children on the posters, so what happened to them? We are introduced to the crying child, and then in a book we are shown riddles to discover a name, which makes us think: "Oh, that's right, he doesn't have a name, does he ?" These questions are presented quite clearly and directly, so, as a community of theorists, we had a guide on what to focus on and resolve. However, at Security Breach, we have felt a bit adrift. Again, look at how many prediction theories we made about Secret of the Mimic before it came out. We did it because it was the only obvious mystery left to solve. Security Breach is infamously an environmental storytelling disaster with a bunch of
Easter eggs that mean nothing and details that make little sense on their own or when connected to other clues. The game is also so big that we are still discovering things today. Technically, this means there are a lot of mysteries to solve. We simply don't know which ones to focus on, which clues connect to each other and which are just separate mysteries. Are we supposed to figure out what happened to the missing children? The only mention we have of them is a line from Gregory and a newspaper during the bad ending. Are we supposed to figure out what the Mimic will do next? We know he wanted to take Cassie to the basement to free him, but aside from being free, his motivations are a little dark. Are we supposed to
find out if Edwin is still alive? It seemed that he had died, but not in the books, so it could be either way. And how important are these things to the actual plot of these games? It's impossible to know. And part of that is now due to how Steel Wool tells the story in this era of gaming. In the previous era, all the pieces were in place for us. We just had to put in the effort to assemble them. From there, we could get some interpretations of how they would fit together, which would help us solve the story and maybe predict the next game. Then a new game would be released with additional information that would inform and clarify those details. However, in this new era, although we continue to receive many
pieces of information that technically fit together, it is not clear how. In the next game, we receive a huge revelation that we never would have predicted and that connects everything. As in Security Breach, there was basically no way to predict that the Mimic existed and was in charge. That's why we came up with a whole theory that Mrs. Afton was in charge. It wasn't until Ruin that the Mimic was revealed, which made us all go back and start connecting the dots. The whole debate about whether books are canon. There were signs that they weren't, but it was impossible to know for sure without the release of Secret of the Mimic. It's a small but important difference in approach. You have a lot of pieces that can be put together
beforehand and then it gives you a possible confirmation of your theory after the fact. The other one has a lot of pieces that don't really seem connected, and only make sense when you have a specific piece, which isn't revealed until the next game. This leaves theorists with a feeling of: what's the point? I know that I have certainly felt it. Why bother solving mysteries we see if we're clearly missing the keystone and will be deceived anyway when the next game comes out? Theorizing is fun, and sometimes we just want to do thought experiments to see what would happen. But we also like to try to get it right. We want to resolve things. And if we can't do it before the next game, why should we even try? It doesn't help that
these games are now being released far apart. I've already mentioned that we're in a FNAF drought, but that's becoming much more common. The first four games were released 13 months apart. Sister Location came out a little over a year later. Pizzeria Simulator came out again a little over a year later. Ultimate Custom Night was released in just half a year. Help Wanted came out in just under a year. And then, Security Breach, two and a half years later. Then, Ruin arrived almost 2 years later. Although that was just a DLC. Help Wanted 2 was released 2 years after Security Breach. And Secret of the Mimic came a year and a half after that. I suppose we technically had Into the Pit and FNAF AR among some of them, but in
terms of mainline games that we can use 100% for everything, it's noticeable that the gaps are getting bigger than before. Look, game development takes time, and I think many of us would prefer a game to take longer to come out so it looks good, rather than rushing it out. But that has a consequence for the community of theorists. When there are longer gaps between games, there's less and less to talk about over time. During the original game series, Matt barely managed to publish a theory before Scott released the next game. This kept the conversation and the theories alive for a whole year. And then, by the time those mysteries were solved, it was time for Sister Location. Not to mention that there are plenty of books
to fill the gaps. But, since Help Wanted, they have been taking increasingly longer. And if you combine that with what I already said about the lack of a clear direction as to which mysteries to focus on, or the fact that they are hiding key information from us, it means that after a couple of months, the games have already been discussed to death. So we go back to the old games, where new titles could help us solve those mysteries instead of trying to decipher new ones. Basically, I think this past year of FNAF theories has been a combination of several things. The lack of new games, new theorists joining the platform, nostalgia reigning supreme, and the new era feeling somewhat mediocre compared to the original era. That doesn't mean
things can't or won't change. We have a lot of new releases next year. Perhaps with Security Breach 2, whether through better marketing or the game itself, we'll finally see a shift where people feel they can solve the new era of FNAF. Perhaps the FNAF World 2 announced by Mega Cat Studios will be set in the previous timeline to continue from the original FNAF World, helping to close those mysteries and forcing us to look ahead, because that will be all that remains to be solved . But, well, that's just a theory. A game theory! Thanks for watching. And thanks again to War Thunder for sponsoring this video. The game is available for free on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, or mobile devices. So, if you use my links below, new and
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