Savage Planet studio Typhoon has reformed and kept the IP after Stadia closure
The Montreal-based studio was closed after Google ceased internal game development
The core talent from closed Journey to the Savage Planet developer Typhoon Studios has reformed, as well regaining the IP for the action-adventure game.
Racoon Logic is a new studio based in Montreal, which has been established following Google’s decision to close all its internal development studios earlier this year.
Google acquired Typhoon last year. According to VGC sources, Typhoon had been working on a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet before it was closed.
Typhoon’s successor studio says it has secured “a large initial investment” from gaming giant Tencent, meaning it can “hit the ground running on new adventures in the action adventure space”.
The team will be made up of co-founder Alex Hutchinson, who was previously creative director on Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 4, and lead designer on EA‘s ambitious Spore.
Reid Schneider, who was executive producer for Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Knight, returns as studio head. Yannick Simard, who was technical lead for Watch Dogs 1 & Watch Dogs 2, returns as CTO.
Art director Erick Bilodeau and technical design director Marc-Antoine Lussier have also joined from Typhoon.
“We’re excited to be back in the indie space, making the games we truly believe in with an amazing new team,” said Hutchinson in a prepared statement.
“The early investment from Tencent is a huge boost, meaning we can do significant work on our own before we start talking to publishers. We love systemic games, games with a sense of humor and a big heart, and games with strong flavours that get reactions from players. We’re going to keep pushing on those ideas and we’ll have something to show soon!”
Schneider added: “We’re super excited to continue the work we started at Typhoon Studios, and build upon the Journey to the Savage Planet franchise in the future. We would like to thank our partners at Tencent, Google, and 505 for their support.
“We’re fortunate to have put together an amazing team, many of whom helped build Savage Planet, and we’ve added some great new talent as well.”
