Supermassive Games

Supermassive Games is a developer and publisher.

Supermassive Games Webpage, Facebook

A British development studio based in Guildford. Supermassive Games develops titles for both consoles and PC. They became well-known worldwide thanks to Until Dawn, released in 2015. The studio has been fully owned by Nordisk Film since July 2022.

History

A fruitful collaboration with Sony

Supermassive Games was established in 2008. Based in Guildford, the team initially focused primarily on collaborating with Sony Computer Entertainment (later renamed Sony Interactive Entertainment). Between 2009 and 2010, the team co-developed LittleBigPlanet, produced expansions for the game, and worked on other titles including Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves, Start the Party!, and Tumble for PlayStation Move controllers. During 2010, Supermassive Games experimented with a small side project: the online football game Big Match Striker, distributed on PC under a free-to-play model. However, the project failed to gain attention.

In 2011, the studio created Start the Party: Save the World and developed several downloadable expansions for LittleBigPlanet 2. In 2012, they released Killzone HD thanks to their work with the Japanese giant, and also teamed up with BBC Multimedia on the puzzle game Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock. During 2013, the team focused on content expansions for LittleBigPlanet on PlayStation Vita and the development of Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs.

The rise to "scary" fame

It's undeniable that all of Supermassive Games' aforementioned works were relatively small projects. The studio's breakthrough game arrived in 2015. At that time, the studio released the survival-horror game Until Dawn for PlayStation 4. Players appreciated the title for its high-quality visuals and branching storyline driven by gameplay decisions. The game garnered multiple industry awards and brought the team international recognition.

In the years that followed, Supermassive Games focused again on smaller-scale projects. In 2016, the studio released two PlayStation VR games, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and Tumble VR. The following year, it developed the interactive film Hidden Agenda, which used the PlayLink app to turn smartphones into controllers. In 2018, it launched two additional VR games: The Inpatient and Bravo Team.

A "dark" collaboration with Bandai Namco

Until Dawn's success put Supermassive Games on the map in the survival-horror world. At Gamescom 2018, they announced a partnership with Bandai Namco Entertainment to make a new series called The Dark Pictures Anthology. The first game in the series, Man of Medan, came out in 2019 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The series continued with Little Hope, which reached players in fall 2020.

The third installment in The Dark Pictures Anthology, House of Ashes, was released in October 2021. It was also the first entry in the series to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. The studio then stepped back, returning to its original focus. In June 2022, the studio released The Quarry, a horror adventure game that serves as a spiritual successor to Until Dawn, on PC and consoles. Returning to their flagship series in November 2022, the studio released The Devil in Me, the fourth title in The Dark Pictures Anthology.

Under Nordisk Film's wing

In March 2021, Nordisk Film purchased a 30.7% stake in Supermassive Games. It was officially announced in July 2022 that the studio is now under their complete ownership.

Continuing the Dark Pictures series, Supermassive Games developed the spin-off Switchback VR, which launched on PlayStation 5 (PlayStation VR2) in March 2023. Future releases from the studio include the second season of The Dark Pictures, starting with Directive 8020, the Dead by Daylight spin-off The Casting of Frank Stone, and Little Nightmares III.

Unfortunately, early 2024 wasn't kind to the team. In late January, reports confirmed that two of the studio's founders, Pete and Joe Samuels, were stepping down. Pete reportedly decided to leave the company for "health reasons", and following his departure, Robert Henrysson, president of Avalanche Studios, assumed the role of CEO at Supermassive Games.

However, the unfortunate news for the studio continued. In February 2024, it was reported that 90 employees, about 30 percent of the team, would be leaving the studio. Shortly after, the team confirmed some of the reports, calling it a "reorganization" that really meant layoffs.