Josef Fares, CEO of Hazelight, speaks with Geoff Keighley at Gamelab.

Josef Fares interview: ‘I like to f*** with the player’s mind’

Josef Fares of Swedish game studio Hazelight enjoys throwing out the F-word in interviews and stage talks. It’s a sign of his passion for video games, and the creator of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and A Way Out was at it again at the Gamelab conference in Barcelona.

Fares is as famous for his amusing outbursts, like when he said “F*** the Oscars” at the Game Awards, as he is for his games. He also famously said I could “break his legs” if I didn’t like his game. (I did). And in our interview at Gamelab, Fares said he enjoyed “f****** with the player’s mind” when I commented on the big plot twist at the end of A Way Out, which was published by Electronic Arts earlier this year.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.