KAFI shared the news in a news post on the game’s Steam page. Studiocanal, the European film and television group, is developing an international movie based on The Headliners, KAFI’s co-op horror game about journalists photographing a monster-covered New York. KAFI described the project as “highly probable” and said the film “might see the light of day.”
The Headliners launched on 30 January 2025 and casts teams of one to eight players as reckless journalists who must capture spectacular footage while creatures overrun the city. Their job is to make the front page without becoming part of it. Each run pushes players to frame the best shot and escape with the footage before the monsters close in. The Steam listing marks it as an indie action game with single-player, multiplayer, and online co-op support. The announcement adds another entry to the current run of video game adaptations moving between games, film, and television.
A three-person team hands the film to Studiocanal
KAFI is a three-person team, and it is “definitely not the ones directing it.” Studiocanal approached KAFI because it loved the game and wanted to build an international movie out of it. The developer’s own post frames the deal as a studio with production capacity taking over a property too large for a three-person team to film itself.
A three-person team does not have the staff to direct, cast, or finance a feature film. Handing production to Studiocanal lets KAFI keep building games while the film side runs through a company set up for it. KAFI wrote that playing an extra just to get dismembered on screen would be a personal goal, but no such role is confirmed.
The Headliners belongs to the current co-op horror wave of small-team panic games, with up to eight players in the same city at once.
Why the premise is camera-first
The game already runs on the mechanic a film would want, characters who point cameras at a disaster and try to leave with the best shot. The objective in The Headliners is to photograph the creatures well enough to land the front page and escape. The store description frames the whole game around this loop, sending players into New York to photograph the creatures and leave with a front-page image. A movie based on the game starts with cameras at the center because the source material already puts them there.
What is and is not confirmed
KAFI’s announcement leaves most production questions open. Its exact words were “highly probable” and “might see the light of day,” wording that describes a development deal rather than a film that is financed and shooting. The phrase “highly probable” is the developer’s own hedge, and a development deal can still stall before filming begins. No director, writer, cast, distributor, budget, or release window has been disclosed.
There is no start date, shooting schedule, or platform attached. A development deal puts the rights and a producing partner in place, but a finished film still needs a director, a cast, and financing, none of which have been announced. KAFI pointed readers to a trade article for more information, but the first-party post carries no further production details.
KAFI’s next game
KAFI used the same announcement to update players on its game work. The post came after a long gap, and KAFI opened it by apologizing for the delay. It had worked on a project for many months before scrapping it, a decision KAFI admitted “wasn’t super nice.” Since around April, the team has been fully focused on a new game that it says is “very different from The Headliners.”
KAFI said it wanted to step away from the horror vibe and the “quota-likes” genre, the Lethal Company style of co-op games built around filling a quota under pressure, while keeping the core idea of watching friends get destroyed. The new game has no title or genre attached in the announcement. KAFI said an official reveal with a trailer is planned in “the next few weeks.”
KAFI also said The Headliners has not been abandoned and that new content is planned for early next year, including a tribute to a certain player that KAFI says it has not forgotten.
