There's a modern migration of game developers leaving large studios and publishers to form independent teams, often pulling in large investments in the process. The latest example of which is That's No Moon Entertainment, a quickly growing team said to be composed of ex-Call of Duty, The Last of Us, and PlayStation veterans. That's No Moon, named after the famous Star Wars quote, is already working on a new AAA action-adventure game with the backing of South Korean publisher Smilegate, which has invested more than $100 million into the young studio.
That's No Moon is going to be headed by two key ex-employees from Infinity Ward and Naughty Dog. In the Creative Director role will be Taylor Kurosaki, who was previously Infinity Ward's studio narrative director and Naughty Dog's narrative design lead. The new project's Game Director will be Jacob Minkoff, formerly Infinity Ward's design director for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and lead game designer for The Last of Us. Other members of the development team share experience from projects including God of War, Fortnite, The Last of Us Part 2, Destiny, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
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As noted, That's No Moon has already received a generous initial funding package of over $100 million from Smilegate. Smilegate has traditionally kept to South Korean game publishing, but has more recently moved toward support of western game development, publishing, and investment. For example, Smilegate is localizing its popular ARPG-MMO Lost Ark for release later this year. It's also partnered with Remedy Entertainment and Xbox Game Studios for FPS CrossfireX, the latest iteration of Smilegate's popular FPS franchise.
Little beyond what's already been mention has been said about That's No Moon's first project. It's a single-playe, third-person, action-adventure game that will be prioritizing both gameplay and story. Outside of being narrative-driven, all the team is ready to say about the project is that the studio was formed to craft "genre-defining" experiences. Suffice to say, it has high expectations for itself and wants fans to share those expectations.
Given the experience of That's No Moon's creative leads and the genre of the game, it's perhaps a reasonable assumption to make that the project will be inspired by Naughty Dog's past work. That it aspires to a genre-defining work with its first project is certainly ambitious. Fans of Naughty Dog's games certainly wouldn't say no to more projects of similar quality.
Big questions obviously remain, however. Smilegate is perhaps best known for free-to-play projects with heavy monetization. That doesn't exactly go hand-in-hand with what That's No Moon is describing, however. Needless to say, there are a lot of potential paths for That's No Moon to take forward. It'll be exciting to see what kind of studio That's No Moon chooses to be.
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