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Playdead

Playdead ApS is a Danish independent video game developer based in Copenhagen. Game designers Arnt Jensen and Dino Patti created the company in 2006 to develop Limbo, which was released in 2010 to critical acclaim.[2][3] After a year of Xbox 360 exclusivity, Playdead released ports of the game to PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.

During Xbox's E3 2014 conference, Playdead announced its second game, Inside, which was a spiritual successor to Limbo. It was released for Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and PlayStation 4 in 2016 to critical acclaim, and was hailed as a worthy successor to Limbo.

History

Arnt Jensen, a former IO Interactive developer, drew sketches in 2004 that led him to conceptualize Limbo. Having tried programming himself and secured government grants, he then sought for additional help through an art-based teaser for the game in 2006. This led to a meeting between Jensen and Dino Patti, and they realized the project was larger than the two of them, so they reached out to investors and with the money they founded the entity "Playdead ApS". (Founded by Underholdningsbranchen ApS and the investors [4][5])[6] Playdead eventually came to have eight employees during Limbo development, with temporary increases of up to 16 through freelancers. Limbo success led them to be able to reacquire the company back from investors, making Playdead completely independent.[7]

Within the same year as Limbo release, Playdead began working on Project 2, what would later become Inside. The game was partially financed by the Danish Film Institute.[8][9][10] Considered a spiritual successor to Limbo, Inside has many of the same themes, including being a 2.5D platform game using a primarily monochrome palette.[11] After using a custom game engine for Limbo, Playdead used Unity to simplify development and a custom temporal anti-aliasing filter which was released in March 2016 under an open-source license. The game was officially announced at the E3 2014 with planned release in 2015,[12] was later pushed to mid-2016 for further refinement,[13] but had a demo at PAX Prime in August 2015. Martin Stig Andersen created the soundtrack again after Limbo, creating sound via bone conduction with a human skull. Inside was first released in June for Xbox One, and later on Microsoft Windows, and received more overwhelming praise than Limbo.[14]

Playdead's third game, which has been teased as early as January 2017, will be a "fairly lonely sci-fi game somewhere in the universe", according to Jensen.[15][16] This game will likely use a third-person perspective within a 3D world, as Jensen stated that the studio has "been tired of the limitations in 2D games".[17] Image teasers of the game were released through Playdead job listings over several months in 2019.[18] Playdead and Epic Games announced in March 2020 that Epic Games will publish this title, providing full development costs and support of the Unreal Engine, while giving full creative control to Playdead, and will split profits 50/50 after Epic recoups its investment on release.[19][20]

Patti's departure

Shortly after the release of Inside, on 19 July 2016, Patti left the company, selling his shares to Jensen. Patti felt that he was leaving Playdead "in a state where it can definitely manage itself", and stated "Following almost 10 incredible years building Playdead from an idea to two dents in the games industry, I'm leaving to seek new challenges."[21] Danish newspaper Dagbladet Børsen reported that a rift had developed between Patti and Jensen around 2015, which Patti described to Kotaku as "the supposed timeline for the next project(s) and where I am in my life now". The rift led to Jensen submitting a resignation letter to Patti from his position as creative director, though intending to stay on as a company executive. The letter had been misinterpreted by Patti as a full resignation from the company, and he subsequently removed Jensen's name from the Central Business Register for Playdead. This led to confrontation between the two and their representative lawyers that required intervention of the Danish Business Authority to resolve.[22] This ultimately led to Patti taking a deal to sell his shares for 50 million Danish kroner (about US$7.2 million).[22] Patti was disappointed by the way his involvement with Playdead ended, but said that "Arnt has been a really good friend and business partner for many years".[23][24][22] Patti went on to found a new UK-based studio, Jumpship, along with film animator Chris Olsen, by June 2017.[25] Jumpship's first game Somerville, released in 2022, has been compared favorably to Playdead's formula.[26][27]

Both Playdead and Patti affirmed that in March 2025 there had been complaints sent by Playdead to Patti related to "infringement and unauthorized use of Playdead's trademarks and copyrighted works in a commercial and marketing context", and threatening to sue Patti for (around US$77,000).[28] Jensen stated in the complaint to Patti that he had published a description of Limbo development on his LinkedIn profile in 2024 which included use of unauthorized copyright materials, and "By providing recipients with core insights to the process of developing Limbo, you are falsely giving the impression that you played a significant role, including a creative role, in the development of the game."[29] Patti removed the post but said that Playdead continued to pressure him on this matter.[28] By June 2025, Patti said that Playdead had filed a formal lawsuit against him over this dispute and that Playdead was trying to remove his contribution to Limbo and Inside.[29]

GOG.com said they were pulling Limbo and Inside from their storefront in July 2025 but without any explanation; this was speculated by players to be related to the ongoing lawsuit.[30]

Games developed

External links

References

  1. Playdead Company Playdead, 2025^
  2. Leigh Alexander. Road To The IGF: Limbo's Dino Patti Gamasutra, UBM TechWeb, 18 February 2010, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  3. Kieron Gillen. IGF Factor 2010: Limbo Rock, Paper, Shotgun, 22 February 2010, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  4. CVR - Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister datacvr.virk.dk^
  5. CVR - Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister datacvr.virk.dk^
  6. Michael Thomsen. How Limbo Came To Life IGN, IGN Entertainment, 14 September 2010, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  7. Mike Rose. Limbo Developer Playdead Buys Itself Back From Investors Gamasutra, UBM TechWeb, 31 August 2011, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  8. Johnny Cullen. Limbo devs working on new IP VG247, Videogaming247, 11 October 2010, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  9. Mike Schramm. Limbo creators working on new IP Engadget, AOL Tech, 11 October 2010, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  10. Philip Kollar. Inside is the next game from Limbo creators Playdead Studios Polygon, Vox Media, 9 June 2014, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  11. Superannuation. It's Time to Start Worrying About Thief 4 Kotaku, Gawker Media, 13 June 2012, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  12. Mike Rose. Limbo Developer Playdead Using Unity Engine For Next Title Gamasutra, UBM TechWeb, 25 August 2011, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  13. Chris Carter. Limbo developer's follow-up 'Inside' sees a delay Destructoid, ModernMethod, 5 June 2015, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  14. Miranda Sanchez. E3 2016: Limbo Follow-Up Inside Gets a Release Date IGN, IGN Entertainment, 13 June 2016, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  15. Rachel Watts. Inside developer Playdead's next game will be sci-fi PCGamesN, 1 October 2018, retrieved 1 October 2018^
  16. Oscar Dayus. Limbo, Inside Dev Teases Next Game GameSpot, 20 January 2017, retrieved 20 January 2017^
  17. Richard Scott-Jones. The Limbo and Inside studio is going 3D, third-person, and sci-fi for its next game PCGamesN, 2 November 2018, retrieved 2 November 2018^
  18. James O'Conner. Some new art from Playdead's next game has quietly been released inside job listings VG247, July 7, 2019, retrieved July 7, 2019^
  19. Andy Robinson. Epic will publish games from Remedy, Playdead and Gen Design Video Games Chronicle, March 26, 2020, retrieved March 26, 2020^
  20. Tom Ivan. Limbo and Inside studio's new game is a 3rd person open-world sci-fi adventure Video Games Chronicle, January 21, 2021, retrieved January 21, 2021^
  21. Dan Pearson. Dino Patti leaving Playdead GamesIndustry.biz, Gamer Network, 19 July 2016, retrieved 19 July 2016^
  22. Dan Pearson. Details emerge of Playdead split GamesIndustry.biz, 19 January 2017, retrieved 19 January 2017^
  23. Af Steffen de Vries. Gylden spilduo splitter efter magtkamp - stifter får 50 mio for at gå Dagbladet Børsen, 16 January 2017, retrieved 18 January 2017^
  24. Cecilia D'Anastasio. Co-Founder Of Inside Creators Gets $7 Million After Business Breakup Kotaku, 18 January 2017, retrieved 18 January 2017^
  25. Chris Kerr. Playdead co-founder Dino Patti helps form new studio, Jumpship Gamasutra, 27 June 2017, retrieved 27 June 2017^
  26. Natalie Clayton. Somerville is Inside set during an alien apocalypse, and it's coming next year PC Gamer, 13 June 2021, retrieved 14 June 2021^
  27. Blake Hester. Somerville, The New Game From Former Playdead CEO, Gets New Trailer Game Informer, 13 June 2021, retrieved 14 June 2021^
  28. Justin Carter. Playdead co-founder Dino Patti claims fellow co-founder keeps legally threatening him Game Developer, 7 March 2025, retrieved 13 July 2025^
  29. Chris Scullion. Playdead co-founder says the studio is suing him, accuses it of trying to erase his involvement in Limbo and Inside Video Games Chronicle, 19 June 2025, retrieved 13 July 2025^
  30. Kaan Serin. While its creators are in a very public legal feud, legendary puzzle platformers Inside and Limbo are being removed from a PC storefront GamesRadar, 11 July 2025, retrieved 13 July 2025^