Developers from the teams behind The Last of Us, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, God of War, Destiny, and more have come together to form That's No Moon, a new studio working on a single player, third-person, action-adventure game, and backed with a $100 million investment.
As announced in a press release, That's No Moon comes with huge AAA pedigree, with many of its senior figures coming from a background at PlayStation studios. Michael Mumbauer (formerly head of PlayStation's Visual Arts Group) is CEO, and Tina Kowalewski (formerly head of product development at Sony Santa Monica) is Chief Strategy Officer.
Although details are scant, the studio's first game will be "an ambitious, new action-adventure game that will push the limits of both gameplay and story." Taylor Kurosaki will serve as creative director, and Jacob Minkoff will be game director – the duo previously worked together at Infinity Ward and Naughty Dog on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and The Last of Us. That's No Moon says the wider development team's credits include, "God of War, Fortnite, The Last of Us Part II, Destiny, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and many more."
The founding That's No Moon team. (Source: That's No Moon)That's No Moon has received a $100 million investment from Smilegate (creator of the Crossfire series), which will also be acting in a partnership role. The partnership aims to "create new experiences that will inspire empathy and deeper personal connections with players around the world."
Interestingly, while the studio is working on a game, the announcement press release mentions That's No Moon "rests at the intersections of games, film, and TV," although it's not clear if that's a creative philosophy, or representative of the actual kinds of projects it aims to work on. Based in Los Angeles and San Diego, the studio aims to build a team of 100 developers by 2022.
CEO Mumbauer was reported to have been working on a remake of The Last of Us before that project ran into roadblocks – it seem That's No Moon represents what the former Visual Arts Group studio head went on to do next. Game leads Minkoff and Kurosaki announced that they had left Infinity Ward in May to "pursue a rare and exciting new opportunity".
It marks yet another new studio being built by notable developers that made their names on major franchises. In recent years we've seen Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime found Dreamhaven and Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser seemingly open Absurd Ventures in Games, among many others.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
