 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | February 2017; 8 years ago (2017-02) |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | February 1, 2021 (2021-02-01) |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Successor | Raccoon Logic |
| Headquarters | , Canada |
Key people | Reid Schneider(studio head,executive producer) |
| Products | Journey to the Savage Planet |
Number of employees | 25 (2018) |
| Parent | Stadia Games and Entertainment (2019–2021) |
| Website | typhoonstudios |
Typhoon Studios Inc. was a Canadianvideo game developer based inMontreal. It was founded byAlex Hutchinson, Yassine Riahi, and Reid Schneider in early 2017 and acquired byGoogle in December 2019, becoming part ofStadia Games and Entertainment (SG&E). After releasing its first game,Journey to the Savage Planet, in 2020, Typhoon Studios was shut down alongside SG&E in February 2021. A new studio,Raccoon Logic, was formed in August 2021 by former Typhoon Studios staffers with control over the rights toJourney.
Alex Hutchinson, Yassine Riahi, and Reid Schneider founded Typhoon Studios inMontreal in February 2017.[1][2] They had previously worked for development studios ofUbisoft,Electronic Arts, andWarner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE), among others.[1] They felt as though it only made sense to start a company if the founding team was composed of a creative director, a production person, and a technical director.[3] Hutchinson stated that the company sought to occupy a near-extinct middle market of "mid-sized games" (such asFirewatch andHellblade: Senua's Sacrifice) betweenindie games and big-budgetAAA games.[3][4] He specifically cited a lack of budget to create a game like those in theCall of Duty series.[5] Hutchinson announced Typhoon Studios' formation in April 2017.[2]
Early on, the company received funding from the Chineseventure capital firm Makers Fund, although this did not translate into an increased focus on the Asian video game market.[3] Typhoon Studios' first hire was theart director Erick Bilodeau, who had worked with the founders at WBIE. The first office was established in amotion capture studio for which the company did not have to pay rent, fit withIKEA desks and second-hand furniture fromCraigslist. After occupying another temporary office in a basement, the studio received sufficient funding to move into its first proper office.[6] By September 2018, Typhoon Studios had signed a long-term partnership with505 Games, which would see the publisher release Typhoon Studios' debut game. The studio had 20 employees at this time and grew to 25 by December of that year.[4][7] DuringThe Game Awards in December 2018, the company announced its debut game asJourney to the Savage Planet.[8]
On December 19, 2019,Google acquired Typhoon Studios and placed it underStadia Games and Entertainment (SG&E), the division developing games exclusively forStadia, Google'scloud gaming service.[1][9] The studio was integrated with SG&E's existing Montreal studio, which was headed up by Sébastien Puel.[9][10]Jade Raymond, the head of SG&E, stated that the purchase was driven by the expertise of the Typhoon Studios team, citing multiple AAA games previously shipped by the individual members.[10]Journey to the Savage Planet was not part of the acquisition.[9] The game was released forPlayStation 4,Windows, andXbox One in January 2020, followed by aNintendo Switch port in May of that year.[11][12] A Stadia version was released on February 1, 2021.[13] On the same day, Google announced the closure of SG&E and its studios, with the former Typhoon Studios team leaving the company.[14] Several of the former staffers—including Hutchinson, Schneider, Bilodeau, Yannick Simard, and Marc-Antoine Lussier—founded the studio Raccoon Logic in August 2021 with initial funding fromTencent and other investors. They negotiated with Google to maintain control of theJourney intellectual property, including the work Typhoon Studios had completed on a planned sequel.[15]