How a university puzzle project became a multi-million krone studio
In short: Before they were the masters of atmospheric horror, Tarsier Studios was a group of students in a small Swedish town. Their journey from a no-budget incubation program to a major acquisition highlights the grit required to turn a student prototype into a global gaming brand.
Tarsier Studios was born in 2004 from a group of nine developers, including Andreas Johnsson and Björn Sunesson. The team formed while studying at Karlshamn University, where Johnsson—a former traditional programmer—sought to transition into game development. Their early success came from a puzzle-platform game called Tio, which won a contest judged by industry veterans. This victory secured them a spot in an incubation program that provided office space but notably offered no financial assistance.
The studio's path to stability was paved by work-for-hire projects. After failing to secure a publishing deal for their game The City of Metronome at E3 2005, the team took on a contract from Sony to remake Rag Doll Kung Fu. This relationship eventually evolved into a long-term partnership where Tarsier created assets and DLC for LittleBigPlanet. By July 2010, the studio signed an exclusivity deal with Sony, eventually growing to 30 people and moving its primary operations to Malmö.
A major turning point occurred in 2016 when Tarsier partnered with Bandai Namco Entertainment. This deal, intended to produce multiple games, led to the development of Hunger, which was eventually rebranded as Little Nightmares. For a price of 99 million kr—comprising 11 million kr in Class B shares plus 88 million kr in cash—Amplifier Game Invest (previously Goodbye Kansas Game Invest) purchased the studio during December 2019. While the deal included the studio's 65 employees and most intellectual property, the rights to Little Nightmares and The Stretchers were excluded from the sale.
While the studio is still a major Swedish developer today, the initial founding group has shrunk; by 2022, just three of the nine original founders stayed at the firm.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Tarsier Studios
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