Jumpship has come full circle. As cofounder Dino Patti has acquired Jumpship once more after promoting it in 2022 to Thunderful, which shut Jumpship down in November 2024.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Patti additionally mentioned that he has made an funding in Unhappy Owl Studios, the maker of the indie hit Viewfinder.
Patti and Chris Olsen based Jumpship in 2017 to make Somerville. They developed the sport and it was acquired in November 2022 by Thunderful. The sport launched and Olsen departed from the corporate.
However in November 2024, Thunderful had layoffs and shut down Jumpship. Patti mentioned he has now reacquired Jumpship, together with shares in Unhappy Owl Studios, and is getting ready to reboot Jumpship in an thrilling and sudden new course—at present in stealth mode.
Somerville had a darkish emotional vibe.
This feels like a loopy course of occasions for a sport firm, however given the final 30 months of turmoil in video games, it’s not an sudden flip of occasions. And for now it has a contented end result.
“Jumpship has always been about pushing the boundaries of emotions, storytelling, and innovation in gaming,” mentioned Patti. “I want to take the company in a completely new direction while staying true to that vision.”
Whereas retaining particulars beneath wraps for now, Patti, who relies in Denmark, hints at a broader trade shift.
“I can’t lift the veil just yet, but I truly believe the current publishing landscape has gone stale,” he mentioned. “It needs a complete overhaul to better serve talented game developers and, most importantly, the players.”
He added, “This is more than just a business decision; it’s about reigniting the passion and vision that first sparked Jumpship — while taking it further than ever before.”
How the deal occurred
Dino Patti
Talking about Unhappy Owl Studios, Patti shared his enthusiasm.
“Sad Owl Studios is an incredible team with a multi-award-winning IP, Viewfinder, under their belt. I can’t wait to show you what they’ve been cooking,” Patti mentioned.
After Thunderful went via its restructuring, Patti was in a position to get possession of Somerville again, although it was empty as everybody had been laid off.
“I’ve been cooking up something, and I came up with a really exciting idea that is kind of based on the core values we kind in Somerville,” Patti mentioned. “It is extending what we’re doing to the whole industry. And without saying too much, I think the way publishers work now is not really helpful.”
He mentioned many don’t ship the worth that builders pay for. It’s primarily very costly, as publishers typically take 50% of the income from builders in a number of the worst offers.
“I think there needs to be a disruption in the publishing space, and this, without saying too much, might be the way,” he mentioned. “I’m requiring Jumpship and Somerville.”
The Unhappy Owl Studios deal
Unhappy Owl Tales created Viewfinder
In the meantime, Viewfinder was constructed by Matt Stark and developer Robotic Teddy. Robotic Teddy was acquired by Thunderful in October 2021, and Robotic Teddy was renamed as Unhappy Owl Studios. Now Patti has made a minority funding in Unhappy Owl Studios.
“They’re part of the strategy going forward. And also it’s just an amazing team, and it’s a Viewfinder has done really well,” Patti mentioned.
Patti is figuring out how many individuals he can rent, however he’s not more likely to get all of them again. He’s retaining his goal intentionally imprecise now.
“We will repurpose the whole thing,” Patti mentioned. “I will bring at least one person on board and we will see how it goes forward.”
One of many issues he positively wished to do was save Somerville, as he feared it might be forgotten. Patti noticed it as a really emotional sport and it reminded him of titles he had labored on earlier than.
“Pure emotion is never going out of fashion,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless at Coherence
Dino Patti (left) and Tadej Gregoric are cofounders of Coherence.
In the meantime, Patti remains to be the CEO of Coherence, which permits multiplayer video games the place 1000’s of gamers could be concerned in the identical sport. There are sizable prospects utilizing the know-how reminiscent of Vampire Survivor and Bossa Studios, which has three video games based mostly on Coherence multiplayer networking know-how. Coherence is working with Lego.
“The product we have now is really amazing,” he mentioned. “We work directly with developers in creating their games. We ensure that they can iterate and test really quickly and optimize it.”
GB Day by day
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