A game studio announced a Mickey Mouse-centric horror game hours after the character entered the public domain
- This ain't the Mickey Mouse from your childhood.
- An earlier version of the world famous mouse went into the public domain on January 1, 2024.
It didn't take long for someone to cash in with a horror-inspired take on Mickey Mouse.
An earlier version of Mickey featured in Disney's 1928 short film "Steamboat Willie" entered the public domain on January 1.
And on the same day, game studio Nightmare Forge Games said it is making a Mickey-centric horror game titled "Infestation 88."
"In the year 1988, what was thought to be an outbreak of vermin morphed into something far more sinister. Infestation 88 is an episodic, 1-4 player co-op survival horror game in which you and your friends are exterminators called in to treat these mysterious infestations," read a game synopsis published on the video game distribution service Steam.
The game developers released a trailer for the game too. The minute-long video featured hazmat-suited characters trying to take out a grotesque-looking Mickey Mouse.
"Infestation 88's" Mickey is still decked out in the same outfit he had on in "Steamboat Willie" — but he has blood all over his face and body.
Mickey isn't the only family-friendly character to have made the leap into horror.
An unrated slasher film titled "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" was released in February last year, after the titular character's copyright expired in January 2022.
In the film, Pooh embarks on a violent killing spree after his best friend Christoper Robin leaves them for college. The movie was widely panned by audiences and critics.
Nightmare Forge Games isn't alone when it comes to capitalizing on the freshly liberated character. Film director Jamie Bailey released a trailer for his horror comedy film, "Mickey Mouse Trap" on Monday.
Bailey's film features a "masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse," according to a synopsis published on IMDB.
"We just wanted to have fun with it all. I mean it's Steamboat Willie's Mickey Mouse murdering people. It's ridiculous. We ran with it and had fun doing it and I think it shows," Bailey said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
Both "Infestation 88" and "Mickey Mouse Trap" do not have formal release dates just yet.
There is a waitlist for "Infestation 88" on Steam while "Mickey Mouse Trap's" producers are targeting a March release, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Representatives for Nightmare Forge Games and Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.