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Celeste developer Matt Thorson is shuttering their start-up studio Matt Makes Games to launch a new outfit, Extremely OK Games. Thorson says the change comes as the name of their start-up company is no longer applicable given there’s now a full team working on its next upcoming project, not just Matt “working solo in [their] parents’ basement”.
Thorson says the success of Celeste has “allowed [them] to set up a lot of things that will make [their] work better, faster, easier, and more fun”, and brings together a team that was previously working remotely. Team members Pedro, Amora, and Heidy have relocated from Sao Paulo to join Thorson at their new offices – which is described as “a cosy little space” in Vancouver, Canada.
“I’m retiring Matt Makes Games Inc., for the most part. MMG will still be listed as the publisher or developer for TowerFall and Celeste, depending on the platform, but all our future work will come from EXOK. I started Matt Makes Games when I was working solo in my parents’ basement, and I never thought I’d be working with such an amazing team on games of this scale,” Thorson said in a post on the new studio’s website (thanks, GI.biz).
“On TowerFall, my collaborators took a larger role than I anticipated, and on Celeste, it was obvious that calling ourselves Matt Makes Games had become silly. Forming EXOK has also conveniently allowed us to restructure things in a more equitable fashion, so that we can all share ownership over our collective efforts.”
As for what’s next for the indie studio?
“We’re already working on our next game, code-named EXOK1,” Thorson explained – EXOK being an abbreviation of the studio’s new moniker. “We’re excited to share more about it when the time is right. Right now we’re still in a very exploratory phase of development, sussing out what this thing wants to be.”
