Jacksepticeye's Unannounced Soma Animated Show Falls Apart Unexpectedly

YouTuber Jacksepticeye, whose real name is Seán William McLoughlin, recently shared his disappointment over the cancellation of a Soma animated show he had been working on for a year. In his video titled 'A Bad Month,' Jacksepticeye opened up about the project's collapse, which left him "quite upset."

Soma, a critically acclaimed survival horror science fiction game developed by Frictional Games, was released in 2015. Jacksepticeye, a long-time fan of the game, had streamed it extensively and often cites it as one of his favorite video games. He had been in discussions with the developers for a year, aiming to bring Soma to life as an animated series.

In the video, Jacksepticeye explained his passion for the project, stating, "I had a very large creative project that I was very excited to do... I was planning to do a Soma animated show. Because I love Soma — Soma is top five, top 10 at least video games of all time for me. I absolutely love that game. It has one of the best stories ever in a video game."

Despite his enthusiasm and the project's readiness to enter full production, it fell apart abruptly. Jacksepticeye mentioned that an unnamed party decided to take the project in a "different direction," leaving him deeply upset. He refrained from going into specifics about the situation, citing his emotional response to the cancellation.

The cancellation of the Soma animated show disrupted Jacksepticeye's plans for 2025, turning his year "upside down." He had intended to focus heavily on the project, which would have limited his content uploads but allowed him to share a significant creative endeavor with his audience. The sudden halt left him questioning his priorities and next steps, describing the period as "a tough month" filled with numerous calls and a frustrating lack of progress.

Following Soma, Frictional Games released two more entries in the Amnesia series: Amnesia: Rebirth in 2020 and Amnesia: The Bunker in 2023. In July 2023, after the release of Amnesia: The Bunker, Frictional's creative director Thomas Grip announced a shift in focus away from horror games to explore other emotional qualities. Grip emphasized the company's aim to create immersive experiences, stating, "While all of our games have been horror in some way, what we really try to do is to get a kind of playable immersion... Horror games naturally are where emotions are front and centre. Games really excel at this. However, we are also exploring themes outside of making things spooky."