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A team of ex-Disney Interactive developers have formed a new studio, Shark Punch, and unveiled their first game, The Masterplan.
CEO Jiri Kupiainen, designer Aarne Hunziker and programmer Leo Lännenmäki met when while working together at Finnish developer Rocket Pack in 2010. The studio was later acquired by Disney for reported $10 to $20 million.
Kupiainen told Develop that the last of the trio leave Disney about six months ago, and were not part of the layoffs that took place last week. But the studio itself was formed at the beginning of 2014.
"I guess the main reason [we started our own studio] is because we could," he said. "We found ourselves in a position where we had the time and money to do something on our own, and luckily also had similar ideas about things we’d like to work on and things we think could work in the marketplace."
The self-funded team are split between Finland and San Francisco.
“Our focus is on creating games that offer deep, involving gameplay in a streamlined package. We do not make ‘mid-core’ games,” the team says on its website.
The Masterplan, Shark Punch’s first game, is described as a tactical team-based crime game, set in 1971, “where you plan and execute bank robberies and other heists”. The game is coming to PC, Mac and Linux later this year.
