11 bit studios

11 bit studios is a developer and publisher.

11 bit studios Webpage, Facebook

11 bit studios is a Polish video game developer, publisher, and distributor for PC and consoles. With over 70 staff members, the company's headquarters are in Warsaw, under the leadership of Grzegorz Miechowski. The studio became known globally for This War of Mine, which has earned over 100 awards around the world. While video game development is 11 bit studios' core business, the company also publishes and distributes games through its 11 bit Launchpad initiative.

The history of 11 bit studios

The Anomaly series

11 bit studios was founded by industry veterans in 2009. The founding team included former employees of Metropolis Software, which was later acquired by CD Projekt. A year later, the studio released its first game, Anomaly: Warzone Earth, which was a considerable success and gave the team a major boost. The studio turned Anomaly into a global brand, a reputation reinforced by the growing popularity of later entries in the series, Anomaly 2 and Anomaly: Korea. Although the series started on mobile devices, its installments were quickly ported to other platforms, including PCs, home and portable consoles.

The success of This War of Mine

This War of Mine, released in 2014, remains the studio's biggest hit to date. The game, showing war through the eyes of civilians, not only won over 100 awards worldwide but also recovered its production costs within the first weekend of release. The game was expanded in 2016 with This War of Mine: The Little Ones, which launched on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

In 2014, 11 bit studios introduced 11 bit Launchpad, a publishing initiative created to help indie developers release their games. Among the games brought to life through this initiative are Tower 57 and Beat Cop.

On April 25th, 2014, 11 bit studios teamed up with Game Delivery Network to launch the Games Republic online store, which sold digital PC games. The platform shut down on December 31st, 2016.

The era of Frostpunk

In August 2016, 11 bit studios unveiled Frostpunk, a real-time strategy game set in an alternate version of the 19th century, during a second ice age. The game debuted in April 2018, generating excitement among both players - selling 250,000 copies within its first three days - and critics. In the following months, the game received several free expansions and updates.

In May 2018, the first reports of the enigmatic Project 8 emerged. Unofficial information suggested that the game would offer a new style of gameplay, yet retain similarities to the studio's earlier titles, requiring players to face morally complex choices.

Stable growth

In the following years, the 11 bit studios team focused on developing its biggest hits, Frostpunk and This War of Mine. In 2018, Frostpunk received two major updates: The Fall of Winterhome in September and Endless mode in November. The first paid DLC, The Rifts, was released in August 2019, and the second, The Last Autumn, launched in January 2020. Meanwhile, in October 2019, the game was released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As for This War of Mine, the game received the DLC The Last Broadcast in November 2018, followed by the Fading Embers expansion in August 2019.

The success of Frostpunk enabled 11 bit studios to achieve impressive financial results in 2018, posting $22.7 million in revenue and $10.4 million in net profit. Following the release of these reports at the end of March 2019, the company's stock price rose by 11.5%.

As a publisher, 11 bit studios released two titles between 2018 and 2019: Moonlighter, a roguelike from Digital Sun Games, and the genre-related Children of Morta, developed by the Dead Mage team. The studio revealed in December 2019 that it would publish a new title by Fool's Theory (creators of Seven: The Days Long Gone) and an additional project from Digital Sun Games.

In 2020, the company made history in the Polish video game industry. On June 17th, it was reported unofficially that This War of Mine might be added to schools' optional reading lists. On June 18th, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited the studio's headquarters, after which it was officially announced that, starting in the 2020/2021 school year, the game would be made available free of charge to adult high school students and recommended for teaching subjects such as sociology, ethics, history, and philosophy.

In August 2020, Frostpunk received another paid expansion, On the Edge. Three add-ons, previously available only on PC - The Rifts, The Last Autumn, and On the Edge - were released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 21st, 2021.

The Kickstarter campaign for Frostpunk: The Board Game proved hugely successful in October 2020. In May 2021, 11 bit studios announced a partnership with NetEase to develop Frostpunk Mobile, a title for smartphones and tablets.

Ambitious plans for the future

April 2021 saw 11 bit studios present its plans for future growth and projects. The studio revealed that it has three projects in development. During that time, Project 8 had reached its most advanced development stage, involving a team of around 60-70, comparable to the one that developed Frostpunk. The developers also disclosed that two more games, known by the codenames Dolly and Eleanor, were in the concept stage. Around 20 people who had worked on This War of Mine were developing the former, while the latter was handled by a team of approximately 50, mainly composed of Frostpunk developers.

In June 2021, the studio announced a collaboration with Jacek Dukaj. This partnership would result in a collection of micro-novels set in the Frostpunk universe, created by "talented Polish and international" writers and available in both Polish and English. The team unveiled a teaser for its new title, officially announced on August 12th, and announced a switch from its proprietary Liquid Engine to Unreal Engine. The enigmatic title was confirmed as Frostpunk 2, which received a short but evocative teaser in August 2021. The Alters was revealed in June 2022 as 11 bit studios' second project, created by the core team behind the bestselling This War of Mine.

Artistic triumphs and business difficulties

11 bit studios' publishing activities in August 2022 included the PC and console release of South of the Circle, originally launched on iOS in October 2020 and developed by State of Play Games. The company's publishing catalog also includes gems such as The Invincible, an adventure game from Starward Industries based on Stanislaw Lem's novel of the same name; The Thaumaturge, an RPG set in an alternate version of 20th-century Poland from Fool's Theory, first mentioned by 11 bit studios in 2019; and Indika, a third-person adventure game from Odd Meter, set in an alternate 19th-century Russia.

Each of these releases was met with enthusiasm from players and solid acclaim from the industry media. However, none of them turned out to be a commercial hit. The most notable case was The Invincible, which sold far below expectations, netting roughly $886,000 in revenue against an estimated budget of around $4.7 million. The Thaumaturge is worth highlighting - despite delays, it eventually received a full Polish dubbing.

Frostpunk 2 and its aftermath

In the meantime, Frostpunk 2 began to take form and was even made available to its first players during a beta test in spring 2024. Although certain changes were well received, many others drew criticism. Despite the mixed feedback, SteamDB data shows that the game attracted strong interest on Steam, reaching third place on the wishlist charts in May 2024.

Ultimately, just a month before Frostpunk 2 was set to launch on PC, the release was delayed to September 20th. The delay was due to the developers' desire to address the issues identified by testers and to implement the new "Zoom Stories" mechanic, which lets players take a closer look at the everyday lives of individual characters.

Frostpunk 2's release was met with strong early praise from critics - on Metacritic, the game holds an average score of 86/100. While players were somewhat less generous, the "Mostly Positive" reviews on Steam were still a reason for satisfaction. The game also enjoyed considerable popularity, attracting over 35,000 concurrent players at its peak, breaking the record set by its predecessor. Nevertheless, the stock market reacted nervously to the game's debut, as it failed to meet investor expectations. Following the sale of shares, 11 bit studios' stock lost 36 percent of its value.

Still, the developers didn't give up and revealed their plans for the future in November. These plans mainly included free updates and paid expansions for Frostpunk 2 (titled Aurora and Spectrum), scheduled for release in 2025, along with a third DLC planned for 2026. Moreover, the team intended to bring the game to consoles in 2025.

Unfortunately, December brought some disappointing news. It was revealed that the enigmatic Project 8 - inspired by the Hellblade and A Plague Tale series, among others - had been canceled. According to the developers, the decision was caused by COVID-19, an expanding budget, market shifts, and a drop in interest in story-based games. The project's cancellation, which cost the company about $12 million, resulted in the team's disbandment and the layoff of 18 employees. Despite this setback, 11 bit studios had two titles already in early development.

Furthermore, the company was also working on The Alters at the time. However, in February 2025, the game's release was delayed. Although The Alters was originally set to launch in early 2025, its release was postponed to later that year. As the developers stated in their press release, the reason for this decision was their desire to ensure that every element of the project "meets uncompromising standards".