Don't Nod / Dontnod Entertainment

Don't Nod / Dontnod Entertainment is a developer and publisher.

Don't Nod / Dontnod Entertainment Webpage, Facebook

An independent development studio based in Paris. The company was started by game industry veterans who had worked at places like Electronic Arts, Criterion Games, and Ubisoft. Since 2013, Oskar Guilbert has served as the head of Don't Nod. The studio focuses on producing original games through unconventional methods. The company also serves as a publisher, handling both in-house games and projects from external developers.

The history of Don't Nod

The beginning of operations and an unsuccessful partnership with Sony

The roots of DONTNOD Entertainment date back to 2008, when the company was founded by several industry veterans: Hervé Bonin, Aleksi Briclot, Alain Damasio, Oskar Guilbert, and Jean-Maxime Moris. Soon after, the team started working on its first project. Adrift was set in a flood-stricken Paris. The main focus of the game was exploration, with players navigating the city by traversing water and hopping across rooftops.

Sony Computer Entertainment (now Sony Interactive Entertainment) was set to release the game, which was being developed as a PlayStation 3 exclusive. However, disagreements over the project's final form led to the termination of the contract. The team chose to reuse their concept, modifying it to fit a new game set in a sci-fi world.

Remember Me and financial troubles

Remember Me, as the game was called, had a difficult development, mainly because publishers were hesitant to invest in a project featuring a female protagonist. Ultimately, Capcom of Japan took the risk, releasing Remember Me in 2013 on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The game received a lukewarm response from critics, and players were skeptical, which led to poor sales. As a result, the company fell into financial trouble, with industry media even reporting that it was on the verge of bankruptcy. However, Oskar Guilbert assured the studio that his team was simply undergoing a restructuring process to adapt to the new situation. These actions paid off, and soon after, the team was able to obtain the funding needed to work on another game. The project, codenamed What If?, attracted the interest of Square Enix. Officially unveiled in 2014, the game was titled Life is Strange.

The rise to fame

Life is Strange is an episodic adventure game, with the first episode released in January 2015. The following episodes came out over the next few months, delighting the creators and bringing in great reviews and strong sales. A year on, the game came out in a boxed edition, and its success gave the Paris team a fresh boost.

The studio began work on another project, described as its most ambitious to date. Vampyr, officially announced in February 2016, is an action RPG released by Focus Home Interactive. A hallmark of this title is its high-quality, darkly themed visuals - the game is set in London just after World War I, during the Spanish flu epidemic - and its deep gameplay, where player decisions influence both the plot and the structure of the world.

Vampyr debuted on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in June 2018. The game sold successfully, but since the developers didn't deliver on everything they promised, critics gave it a lukewarm response. Nevertheless, a Nintendo Switch port was announced a few months after the game's release.

The year 2018 was notable for the DONTNOD Entertainment team for two further reasons. First, the studio released The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, a free spin-off of the Life is Strange series, and began releasing the episodic Life is Strange 2. The release of the remaining episodes ended up taking longer than expected, and the full game was completed on December 3rd, 2019, with the physical edition hitting stores that same day. Second, during E3 2018, the team announced another adventure game, Twin Mirror, which was published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Initially scheduled for release in March 2019, the game was significantly delayed and ultimately debuted on December 1st, 2020.

Meanwhile, in November 2019, the studio revealed another adventure title, Tell Me Why. Published by Xbox Game Studios, the game launched on PC and Xbox One on August 27th, 2020. The game borrowed a lot from the team's previous projects, but even though it was split into episodes, all three came out within a week.

A period of change

In May 2020, the studio opened a new branch in Montreal, Canada, which was expected to employ more than 250 people. January 2021 began a period of major changes for the company. At that time, it was announced that the Chinese company Tencent had acquired a minority stake in DONTNOD Entertainment for €30 million, gaining the right to appoint a board member. The money from China was aimed at letting the French studio publish its own games and expand into China and mobile gaming. In April, the studio announced that its publishing catalog would also include games developed by other teams. In September, the studio made another major change, implementing permanent remote work policies for all staff.

The company's changes didn't stop there. On May 31st, 2022, DONTNOD Entertainment revealed that it was rebranding as Don't Nod. They also changed the logo to make it more universal.

Expanding the portfolio and seeking a new hit

Don't Nod's first external release was the adventure game Gerda: A Flame in Winter, developed by Denmark's PortaPlay, and it came out on PC and Nintendo Switch in September 2022. In September, it was announced that Don't Nod would publish a then-unrevealed action RPG developed by Tiny Bull.

Don't Nod had no intention of abandoning its own projects, as shown by the announcement of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, an action RPG in which players take on the role of a ghost hunter and control the soul of his deceased wife. The game was shown off at The Game Awards 2022 and was supposed to come out in late 2023, but it ended up being delayed. In the meantime, two other titles from Don't Nod have been released.

The first was a narrative adventure, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, set in a Mediterranean town and a divine realm. It tells the story of a girl named Polly, who struggles to protect both worlds. The game came out on PC and consoles in June 2023 and was liked by both players and critics, scoring "mostly positive" on Steam and 71-77/100 on Metacritic. Despite this, its release largely went unnoticed.

Jusant, an adventure-arcade game where players control a boy climbing a massive rock tower, performed significantly better. The game came out on PC and consoles in October 2023 and was well received, scoring "very positive" on Steam and 83-85/100 from critics on Metacritic.

The release of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden was delayed until February 2024. The game received "very positive" reviews on Steam and earned strong ratings from industry media, with Metacritic scores ranging from 78 to 81/100. The game didn't sell well; at its best, less than 4,000 people were playing on Steam at the same time, and the number kept falling in the months afterward.

Extensive restructuring

At the end of March 2024, Don't Nod announced its new organizational structure. From that point on, the studio was divided into three branches, each specializing in RPGs, narrative adventure games, and action-adventure games. This internal reorganization aimed to capitalize on the team's strengths, allow developers to draw inspiration from previous successes, and give them more independence to encourage creativity. Furthermore, Don't Nod revealed that it was preparing five new projects, with two additional titles being developed by other studios, for which Don't Nod would handle publication.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant were not commercial successes, falling short of the studio's expectations. As a result, Don't Nod lost one million euros in the first half of 2024. To prevent similar issues in the future, the company took several measures: it canceled one upcoming project, temporarily suspended two others, and redesigned two more to appeal to a broader audience. For the time being, the developers pinned their hopes on Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, a story-driven adventure game, with the first episode expected to launch in February 2025.

The developments didn't stop there: in mid-October 2024, the studio requested a suspension from the stock exchange. Shortly afterward, the next phase of restructuring was announced, which, according to an official statement, could impact up to 69 jobs.

Facing the possibility of layoffs, Don't Nod employees decided to stage a strike. Protesters demanded that the company's management abandon its job-cutting plan, include employees in decision-making, and allow Oskar Guilbert to participate in negotiations. Furthermore, in an open letter, they cited "a series of oversights" and "questionable decisions" by management, as well as alleged "delusions of grandeur" and "short-term thinking", as the causes of the team's problems.