New studios get formed often, but not all of them are loaded with established talent from the jump. A group of former Naughty Dog, Infinity Ward, Bungie, and PlayStation developers have come together to make That’s No Moon, an independent team based in San Diego and Los Angeles that is focused on making a “new generation of narrative-driven, genre-defining experiences.”
The team didn’t announce a new game alongside its existence, but said its current project would be an “ambitious, new action-adventure game that will push the limits of both gameplay and story.” That’s No Moon seemingly wants to go beyond games, too, as it “rests at the intersection of games, film, and TV” and make “both interactive and linear media.” Smilegate, the South Korean developer and publisher the enormous CrossFire series, is also helping to fund this endeavor as it has also invested $100 million into the studio. This funding will likely help the studio fund its aim to rapidly grow to around 100 members by 2022.
The focus on narrative makes sense, given the crew behind it. Taylor Kurosaki and Jacob Minkoff, both renowned for their narrative-heavy titles, are two leaders of the team and will be chief creative officer and chief design officer, respectively. Both were previously at Naughty Dog, crafting hits like the two PS3 Uncharted sequels and original The Last of Us, before moving to Infinity Ward for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and the 2019 Modern Warfare reboot; all of which were games that were revered for their narrative presentation. Kurosaki was a narrative lead on both teams while Minkoff was a design lead at the two studios.
The other talent is also full of other AAA veterans. Michael Mumbauer will serve as CEO and hails from PlayStation’s Visual Arts Group (and was recently in a popular Bloomberg report detailing Sony’s obsession with blockbusters). Tina Kowalewski is chief strategy officer and was former director of product development at Sony’s Santa Monica Studios. Nick Kononelos will be chief operation officer and while he was most recently at Electronic Arts, he has contributed on a wealth of well-regarded Sony first-party titles. Former Foundation Engineering Lead at Bungie Barry Genova is slated to be chief technology officer. And George Allison, who headed finance for the Global Services Division at PlayStation, is set to be chief financial officer.
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