What Red Thread Games does

Red Thread Games AS is an independent video game development studio founded in 2012 and headquartered in Oslo, Norway. The studio specializes in narrative-driven adventure games across multiple genres — cyberpunk fantasy (Dreamfall Chapters: The Final Cut), Fjord Noir psychological mystery (Draugen), story-driven road-trip action (Dustborn), and the upcoming survival mystery RPG Hello Sunshine. Core technology includes proprietary dialogue and companion systems, dynamic weather/environment mechanics, survival heat/shadow gameplay, and full motion-capture animation, all designed to support choice-and-consequence storytelling. The studio operates with a small team of 12-15 people plus remote contractors in South Africa and the United States, distributed across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Epic, GOG, and Mac storefronts.

The studio's business model is one-time-purchase game sales at $19.99-$29.99 per title, with free post-launch content updates. Distribution is handled through major digital storefronts globally, supplemented by publisher partnerships — Megabit Publishing for Hello Sunshine (signed June 2025) and Quantic Dream for Dustborn (August 2024). Marketing relies on community channels (Discord, newsletter, social media), gaming event presence (Tokyo Game Show, PC Gaming Show, GDC), and earned media coverage in gaming press. Revenue is not publicly disclosed; the only known external capital is a $152,943 Norwegian Film Institute grant from November 2015.

The studio's primary customer segment is global narrative-adventure game enthusiasts who value story depth and character-driven experiences over mass-market action titles. Its competitive position rests on the long-running The Longest Journey IP saga and founder Ragnar Tørnquist's creative legacy, supported by a loyal but modestly sized community (2,000+ Discord members as of December 2025). With two projects in active development (Hello Sunshine and Project M), the studio is positioned for its most active product launch period since 2019.

Name

Red Thread Games

Legal name

Red Thread Games AS

Website

https://redthreadgames.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Red Thread Games is an independent Oslo-based game studio developing narrative-driven adventure games across PC and consoles, serving global narrative-game enthusiasts with titles including Dreamfall Chapters, Draugen, and Dustborn.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Oslo

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Game Sales (One-time Purchase): Traditional video game retail model with one-time purchase for full game access across PC and console platforms. Revenue generated from direct sales through digital storefronts and retail channels.
2. Free Content Updates: Post-launch content updates provided free to existing customers, with major updates shipping new scenes, combat improvements, and game enhancements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Red Thread Games is an independent game studio that develops and publishes narrative-driven adventure video games sold as one-time digital purchases. Its released catalog includes Dreamfall Chapters: The Final Cut (a 3D adventure spanning cyberpunk and fantasy worlds), Draugen (a first-person 1920s Norwegian mystery), and Dustborn (a story-driven road-trip action-adventure), with two additional titles in development.

Product overview

Red Thread Games is an independent game developer and publisher based in Oslo, Norway, creating narrative-driven games. The company has released four games: Dreamfall Chapters: The Final Cut (a 3D adventure spanning cyberpunk and fantasy worlds), Draugen (a first-person psychological mystery in 1920s Norway), Dustborn (a road-trip action-adventure), and is currently developing Hello Sunshine (a survival mystery RPG featuring robot companionship and co-op gameplay) and Project M (a coming-of-age RPG adventure). Their portfolio centers on story-rich games with meaningful choices, character-driven narratives, and atmospheric world-building across multiple genres.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dreamfall Chapters: The Final Cut A story-driven 3D adventure game set in parallel worlds combining cyberpunk sci-fi with magical fantasy, concluding The Longest Journey saga through three playable characters (Zoë Castillo, Kian Alvane, and Saga) whose choices shape the outcome.
• Draugen A single-player first-person psychological mystery adventure set in 1920s Norway in which players explore a forgotten coastal community to uncover dark secrets while accompanied by a dynamic AI companion named Lissie.
• Dustborn A story-driven action-adventure road-trip game set in a dystopian 2030s America in which players lead a band of misfits transporting a mysterious package while navigating political factions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Hello Sunshine reached 100,000+ Steam wishlists within months of announcement
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Megabit PublishingcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 June 2025Publisher partnership for Hello Sunshine signed in June 2025. Megabit Publishing provides distribution support and publishing services for the upcoming survival mystery game. Partnership announced publicly in late 2025 during PC Gaming Show. Response from publishers was unambiguously strong with more interest than any previous project.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Tequila Works: Spanish indie developer behind Rime, The Sexy Brutale, and Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son. A small-scale narrative-adventure studio with similar genre breadth and emotional, atmospheric storytelling.
• Deck Nine Games: Developer of Life is Strange: True Colors and Life is Strange: Double Exposure. A narrative-adventure specialist of comparable scale targeting the same PC/console audience as Red Thread Games.
• Dontnod Entertainment: Paris-based studio behind Life is Strange, Tell Me Why, and Vampyr. Directly comparable as a narrative-adventure specialist developing story-rich, choice-driven games for PC and console, often with supernatural or speculative-fiction settings similar to Red Thread's portfolio.
• Quantic Dream: French narrative-game developer behind Heavy Rain, Detroit: Become Human, and Star Wars Eclipse. Quantic Dream published Red Thread Games' Dustborn in 2024, making it both a direct narrative-adventure peer and an existing publishing partner.
• Frogwares: Ukrainian studio behind the Sherlock Holmes and The Sinking City series. Closely comparable as a narrative-mystery specialist of similar indie scale producing first-person story-driven games for PC and console.
• Telltale Games: Pioneer of the episodic narrative-adventure genre (The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us). Closely aligned with Red Thread's emphasis on choice-and-consequence storytelling, character-driven drama, and PC/console distribution.
• Supergiant Games: Creator of Hades, Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre. Comparable as a small, critically acclaimed indie studio whose games pair strong narrative with genre-blended gameplay (action/RPG), mirroring Red Thread's narrative-plus-mechanics design philosophy.
• Night School Studio: Developer of Oxenfree, Afterparty, and Oxenfree II. Specializes in narrative-driven, character-focused indie adventures for PC and console — directly comparable in scope, team size, and storytelling approach.

Broad incumbents

• Remedy Entertainment: Finnish developer of Max Payne, Alan Wake, and Control. Operates in the same narrative-action entertainment space as Red Thread but at significantly larger scale, with a wider portfolio and broader commercial reach — a useful comparable for valuation and category benchmarking.
• Larian Studios: Belgian developer of Baldur's Gate 3 and the Divinity series. Represents the upper bound of narrative-RPG PC/console development, illustrating the scale trajectory available to a narrative-driven studio that achieves breakout success.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/redthreadgames
• YouTubeyoutube.com/redthreadgaming
• Facebookfacebook.com/RedThreadGames
• Instagraminstagram.com/redthreadgames
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/red-thread-games

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Red Thread Games