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Tarsier Studios

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Tarsier Studios AB
FormerlyTeam Tarsier (2004-2009)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded2004; 20 years ago (2004) in Karlshamn, Sweden
Founders
  • Andreas Johnsson
  • Björn Sunesson
  • and 7 others
Headquarters
Malmö
,
Sweden
Key people
  • Andreas Johnsson (CEO)
  • Oliver Merlöv (COO)
ProductsLittle Nightmares
Number of employees
77[1] (2022)
ParentAmplifier Game Invest (2019–present)
Websitetarsier.se

Tarsier Studios is a Swedish video game developer based in Malmö. The studio was most known for creating the Little Nightmares series in collaboration with publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is currently working on Reanimal.

History

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Nine developers, including Andreas Johnsson and Björn Sunesson, founded Tarsier Studios in 2004.[1][2] Johnsson had been a traditional programmer in the 1990s but wished to get into video game programming. With many Swedish universities beginning to offer game development courses, he enrolled at a Karlshamn university, where he got together with the other developers who would found Tarsier Studios. Their puzzle-platform game Tio won a game design contest panelled by video game industry veterans, which landed the team a spot in an incubation programme that would provide aid to advance the game's concept. The team was given an office space but no financial assistance.[1] Mattias Nygren joined Tarsier as its chief executive officer (CEO) in 2006 and the business foundation of the Sparbanken i Karlshamn acquired a significant stake in the studio.[3][4] They reworked Tio into The City of Metronome and attended E3 2005 to pitch the game to publishers. The team attracted interest from companies including Sony Computer Entertainment but ultimately signed no publishing deal. Tarsier remained in business with work-for-hire projects while working on further prototypes. One physics-based fighting game prototype again attracted the interest of Sony, which hired the team to develop a remake of Rag Doll Kung Fu. This sparked the start of a longer partnership with Sony, with Tarsier creating art assets and later downloadable content packs for LittleBigPlanet.[1] In July 2010, Tarsier signed an exclusivity deal with Sony.[5]

During this time, the team grew to 30 people and moved from Karlshamn to Malmö.[1] The Karlshamn office was retained for continued outsourcing operations, while the Malmö office would house the development of console games.[6] A "super-ambitious" game Tarsier was working on for Sony was put on hold when the studio was offered to develop LittleBigPlanet PS Vita.[1] In June 2013, Nygren bought out the Karlshamn location, saying that it was not feasible for Tarsier to operate two locations at a time. He left Tarsier and installed Ola Holmdahl as its new CEO of the 40-person Malmö studio.[6][7] Out of the Karlshamn office, Nygren established The Station.[3] Tarsier's next bigger project was the horror game Hunger. The studio initially pitched the game to Sony, but the publisher had much higher ambitions for external projects and declined. Tarsier instead found a publisher in Bandai Namco Entertainment, which invested in the project with the intent of producing multiple games.[1] The deal was announced in August 2016 and Hunger was renamed Little Nightmares.[8] For Sony, Tarsier created the virtual reality game Statik, and the studio worked with Nintendo on The Stretchers.[1]

In December 2019, Tarsier Studios was acquired by Goodbye Kansas Game Invest (later known as Amplifier Game Invest)—an investment company previously bought by Embracer Group—for 99 million kr, of which 88 million kr in cash and 11 million kr in newly issued Class B shares.[1][9] The deal included the studio's 65 employees and intellectual property, excluding Little Nightmares and The Stretchers, which remained with their respective owners.[9] The transition also brought along staff changes: Tarsier hired Oliver Merlöv, formerly of Massive Entertainment, as its chief operating officer in 2020, as well as Erik Rudelius as its chief people and culture officer. As of 2022, only three of the nine original founders remain with the company.[1]

Games

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Year Title Platform(s) Publisher
2008 LittleBigPlanet (DLC)[10] PlayStation 3 Sony Computer Entertainment
2009 Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic[11]
2011 LittleBigPlanet 2 (DLC)[12]
2012 LittleBigPlanet PS Vita[13] PlayStation Vita
2013 DC Comics Premium Level Pack[14] PlayStation 3
2014 LittleBigPlanet 3[15] PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
2015 Tearaway Unfolded[16] PlayStation 4
2017 Little Nightmares[17] Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Bandai Namco Entertainment
2017 Statik[18] PlayStation VR Tarsier Studios
2019 The Stretchers[19] Nintendo Switch Nintendo
2021 Little Nightmares II[20] Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Bandai Namco Entertainment
TBA Reanimal Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S THQ Nordic

Cancelled

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bailes, Jon (1 December 2022). "Studio Profile: Tarsier Studios". Edge. No. 379. Future Publishing. pp. 94–97.
  2. ^ a b Purchese, Robert (13 July 2021). "Whatever happened to City of Metronome, the missing game by Little Nightmares developer Tarsier?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  3. ^ a b Callerstig, Emma (23 September 2019). "Stark utveckling för spelbolag" [Strong development for game companies] (in Swedish). NetPort. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Två stiftelser med Sparbankspengar" [Two foundations with Sparbank money]. Nyttan (in Swedish). Sparbanken i Karlshamn. 2013. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  5. ^ Cullen, Johnny (19 July 2010). "Tarsier Studios become first-party SCE developer". VG247. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  6. ^ a b Callerstig, Emma (7 June 2013). "Mattias Nygren leaves his CEO position at Tarsier Studios". NetPort. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  7. ^ Jordan, Jon (6 June 2013). "Tarsier Studios diverges its outsourcing work; Ola Holmdah to lead Malmo office forwards". Pocket Gamer.biz. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  8. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (18 August 2016). "Bandai Namco picks up evocative horror game Hunger, rebrands it Little Nightmares". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  9. ^ a b Batchelor, James (20 December 2019). "Embracer Group acquires Little Nightmares dev Tarsier Studios for $10.5m". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  10. ^ "LittleBigPlanet >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  11. ^ "RDKF Fists of Plastic >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  12. ^ "LittleBigPlanet 2 >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  13. ^ "LittleBigPlanet PS Vita >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  14. ^ "DC Comics Premium Level Pack >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  15. ^ "LittleBigPlanet 3 >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  16. ^ "Tearaway Unfolded >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  17. ^ "Little Nightmares >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  18. ^ "Statik >> Tarsier Studios - Having A Blast!". Tarsier Studios. Archived from the original on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  19. ^ "The Stretchers". Tarsier. 14 November 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  20. ^ "Little Nightmares 2". Tarsier. 19 August 2019. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.

Further reading

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