Jumpship

Jumpship is an independent game development studio based in Guildford, UK, focused on creating narrative-driven, interactive experiences. The company was founded in 2017 by Chris Olsen, a film animator with credits on projects like 'Skyfall' and 'The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron', and Dino Patti, the former CEO and co-founder of Playdead, the studio behind the acclaimed titles 'Limbo' and 'Inside'. Olsen's journey with the studio's inaugural project began in 2014 as a personal side project, which evolved into the foundation of Jumpship upon his collaboration with Patti.

The studio operates in the premium video game market, developing and publishing its own titles for PC and major consoles, including Xbox and PlayStation. Its business model centers on the sale of these games through digital storefronts like Steam and the Epic Games Store, and it has also utilized subscription services like Xbox Game Pass for day-one releases. Jumpship's first and only released title is 'Somerville', a sci-fi adventure game. The game chronicles the story of a family navigating the intimate repercussions of a large-scale alien invasion, told without dialogue through its environment and character animations. Gameplay involves a mix of 3D movement and physics-based puzzles, where the player, as the father, uses a mysterious power to manipulate alien sediment and light to overcome obstacles.

The company's history includes a significant acquisition and a subsequent reacquisition. In November 2022, concurrent with the launch of 'Somerville', Swedish publisher Thunderful Group acquired Jumpship for an undisclosed sum, although the studio was to retain creative autonomy. Following this, co-founder Chris Olsen departed the company. In February 2025, after a period of restructuring and layoffs at Thunderful, Dino Patti reacquired Jumpship, returning it to its independent status. Patti announced plans to reboot the studio in a new direction, aiming to overhaul the investment and publishing landscape to better serve developers and players, while maintaining a commitment to emotion-driven storytelling and gameplay.

Keywords: Jumpship, Somerville, Dino Patti, Chris Olsen, independent game studio, narrative adventure, sci-fi game, atmospheric games, puzzle-adventure, Playdead, video game development, Guildford game studio, Thunderful Group, interactive storytelling, cinematic games, single-player games, Xbox Game Pass, PC gaming, console gaming, alien invasion