A group of industry veterans coming from the likes of Naughty Dog, Infinity Ward, Sonys Santa Monica Studio, EA, and Bungie has announced the creation of AAA studio Thats No Moon.
The new studio has already secured a $100 million investment from Crossfire studio Smilegate to work on its debut title, a story-driven action-adventure game.
The upcoming title will be led by Taylor Kurosaki as creative director -- former narrative design lead at Naughty Dog and studio narrative director at Infinity Ward -- and Jacob Minkoff as game director, former lead game designer on the Last of Us and design director of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
Thats No Moons founding team also includes:
Michael Mumbauer (CEO, former head of PlayStations Visual Arts Group)Tina Kowalewski (chief strategy officer, current EVP and board member of Giant Squid and former director of product development at Sonys Santa Monica Studio)Nick Kononelos (COO, former senior development director at EA)Barry Genova (CTO, formerly foundation engineering lead at Bungie)George Allison (CFO, former head of finance for the Global Services Division at PlayStation)Staff will be based in Los Angeles and San Diego, with the team expected to grow to nearly 100 by 2022.
Thats No Moon considers itself at "the intersections of games, film, and TV," the announcement added.
Mumbauer commented: "We started Thats No Moon with a singular vision of creating unforgettable stories and characters that will define and extend beyond our medium. Im proud to share that ambition with such a talented team of creators and our incredible partners at Smilegate."
We recently spoke to Thats No Moon CEO Michael Mumbauer about the launch of the studio, its plans to elevate video games storytelling, and Smilegates goal to become a "global player in the industry."