Former Naughty Dog and Infinity Ward Vets Form New AAA Studio That's No Moon - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 August 2021 / 2,312 Views
Former Naughty Dog, Infinity Ward, Electronic Arts, and Bungie veterans have formed a new AAA studio called That's No Moon, according to a report from GamesIndustry.
The new studio has secured a $100 million investment from Crossfire studio Smilegate. The money will be used to develop its first title, which is a story-driven action-adventure game.
The first title will be Taylor Kurosaki as creative director, who was a narrative design lead at Naughty Dog and studio narrative director at Infinity Ward. Jacob Minkoff will also be the game director, who was the former lead game designer on the Last of Us and design director of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
Staff for That's No Moon is based in Los Angeles and San Diego, while the team is expected to grow to nearly 100 by 2022.
Other That's No Moon founding members includes:
- Michael Mumbauer (CEO, former head of PlayStation's Visual Arts Group)
- Tina Kowalewski (chief strategy officer, current EVP and board member of Giant Squid and former director of product development at Sony's Santa Monica Studio)
- Nick Kononelos (COO, former senior development director at EA)
- Barry Genova (CTO, formerly foundation engineering lead at Bungie)
- George Allison (CFO, former head of finance for the Global Services Division at PlayStation)
We started That's No Moon with a singular vision of creating unforgettable stories and characters that will define and extend beyond our medium," said Mumbauer. "I'm proud to share that ambition with such a talented team of creators and our incredible partners at Smilegate."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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This sounds like a studio that is designed to be acquired.
Wow, that's some big talent. Can't wait to see their first game. Wonder if we'll get it this generation.
Fingers crossed, probably towards the end though if anything.
Star Wars fans im guessing .
That is a pretty cool name!
That's a space station!!
Wow what a monster of a team,
Hopefully they make an outstanding game!
I'll definitely be paying attention to this studio!
Seems like a good founding staff.
Now I have to wonder just how long it'll take until someone buys them up or signs exclusivity deals, because it's happened with Respawn and others in the past.
