Ghost Ship Games

What Ghost Ship Games does

Ghost Ship Games is a Copenhagen-based Danish game development studio founded in April 2016 by six veteran game developers from the Danish games industry. The studio's core franchise is Deep Rock Galactic, a 1-4 player cooperative FPS featuring fully destructible environments, procedurally-generated cave systems, and deep progression built on a proprietary engine layered over Unreal. Since its February 2018 Early Access launch on Steam, the franchise has expanded to Xbox and PlayStation, reached a 1.0 release in May 2020, transitioned to a seasonal content model in November 2021, and broadened into spin-off titles including Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core (Early Access 2025) and Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor on mobile. The studio reports more than 10 million players served and more than 4 million copies sold, and achieved profitability within three years of founding.

Name

Ghost Ship Games

Legal name

Ghost Ship Games

Website

https://ghostship.dk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ghost Ship Games is a Copenhagen-based Danish game studio (founded 2016) best known for developing the co-op FPS franchise Deep Rock Galactic, with 10M+ players and 4M+ copies sold across Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and mobile.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Video Game Development

akta.pro primary industry

Indie Game Studios (MPAFAAAC)

Keywords

• Co-op video games
• Game development studio
• Indie game publishing
• First-person shooter games
• Procedurally generated games

Headquarters

HQ city

Copenhagen

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Game Sales (Deep Rock Galactic): Deep Rock Galactic is sold as a one-time purchase on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. The game launched in Early Access in February 2018 and reached its 1.0 release in May 2020. Revenue is generated from initial game purchases across all platforms.
2. Seasonal Content / DLC: Deep Rock Galactic generates post-launch revenue through seasonal content updates, with the seasonal model launching in November 2021. Players may purchase new seasons or seasonal content.
3. Publishing Revenue: Ghost Ship Games publishes third-party titles (Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, Guntouchables, SpellRogue, DarkSwarm, FLASK, Dinolords) through Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and mobile app stores, earning revenue from sales of published games.
4. Mobile Game Sales: Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is available on Android and Apple app stores, generating revenue from mobile game sales.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Ghost Ship Games is a Copenhagen-based game development studio that develops and publishes co-op video games, with its flagship franchise Deep Rock Galactic (a 1-4 player co-op FPS featuring 100% destructible environments, procedurally-generated caves, and dwarven sci-fi theming) available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and mobile platforms. The studio also operates Ghost Ship Publishing, a publishing arm that supports independent developers in bringing their games (such as Guntouchables, Dinolords, SpellRogue, DarkSwarm, and FLASK) to market.

Product overview

Ghost Ship Games is a Copenhagen-based Danish game development studio founded in spring 2016. The company operates as both a game developer and publisher. Their primary product portfolio consists of the Deep Rock Galactic franchise, which includes the core co-op FPS Deep Rock Galactic (with over 10 million players served and 4+ million copies sold), the upcoming roguelite spin-off Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core (launching in Early Access), and the single-player auto-shooter Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. Additionally, Ghost Ship Games runs a publishing operation supporting independent developers, publishing titles including Guntouchables, Dinolords, SpellRogue, DarkSwarm, and FLASK. The company follows an open development philosophy, engaging with their community from early stages and iterating quickly with a small team of 54 people.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Deep Rock Galactic: 1-4 player co-op FPS featuring badass space Dwarves, 100% destructible environments, procedurally-generated caves, deep progression, and endless hordes of alien monsters.
• Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core
• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
• Ghost Ship Publishing

Products and services

• Deep Rock Galactic A 1-4 player co-op FPS featuring space dwarves, 100% destructible environments, procedurally-generated caves, deep progression, and endless alien monsters. The studio's flagship franchise with over 10 million players served and more than 4 million copies sold across PC (Steam), Xbox, and PlayStation platforms.
• Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core A 1-4 player co-op FPS action roguelite spin-off featuring sci-fi dwarves, alien horrors, and procedurally-generated caves. Players join dwarven Reclaimers to reestablish control over lost deep mining operations on Hoxxes IV. Emphasizes combat over the mining-focused gameplay of the mainline title.
• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

Quantifiable outcome

• Deep Rock Galactic reached 1 million players in May 2020 (1.0 release), 2 million by January 2021, 3 million by June 2022, and 10 million+ total players across all platforms.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

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.

• Coffee Stain PublishingcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 February 2017Coffee Stain joined as the publisher for Deep Rock Galactic in February 2017, providing publishing support including marketing, distribution, and operational guidance as the game entered Early Access. Coffee Stain was later acquired by Embracer Group, which then acquired Ghost Ship Games directly in July 2021.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Arrowhead Game Studios: Swedish indie studio behind the Helldivers and Magicka franchises, with a co-op focus and similar publishing relationship under the Embracer family. Most directly comparable peer in scope, philosophy, and genre.
• Fatshark: Stockholm-based developer of Warhammer: Vermintide and Darktide, owned by Tencent. Closely comparable as a European indie studio focused on premium co-op PvE FPS experiences with roguelike elements.
• 10 Chambers: Swedish co-op FPS developer of GTFO, founded by industry veterans. Comparable in team size, Stockholm/Nordic peer positioning, and focus on hardcore co-op PvE shooter experiences.
• Coffee Stain Publishing: Swedish indie publisher and former Ghost Ship publisher, also under Embracer. Highly comparable publishing arm focused on indie PC games with Early Access and live service expertise.
• Klei Entertainment: Canadian indie developer of Don't Starve and Mark of the Ninja, known for long-lived games with deep systems and seasonal content. Comparable as a mid-size indie studio with evergreen franchises and a no-crunch culture.
• Warhorse Studios: Czech indie studio behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance, owned by Embracer. Comparable as a mid-size European indie studio with a single major successful franchise, owned by the same parent company.
• Iron Gate Studio: Swedish developer of Valheim, a co-op survival crafting hit that exploded on Steam Early Access. Comparable as a small Nordic indie studio that leveraged Steam Early Access and community engagement to scale a co-op game into a 10M+ seller.

Broad incumbents

• Psyonix: Developer of Rocket League, acquired by Epic Games. Comparable as a studio whose co-op/competitive multiplayer game became a long-running live-service franchise with seasonal updates and cross-platform play.
• Devolver Digital: Indie games publisher with a portfolio that includes many co-op and multiplayer indie titles. Comparable as a publishing partner for indie developers, though at much greater scale and as a publisher rather than developer.

Emerging players

• Torn Banner Studios: Canadian indie developer of Chivalry and Chivalry 2. Comparable as a small studio focused on competitive multiplayer experiences with a long tail of community-driven content, though Chivalry is competitive rather than co-op PvE.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GhostShip_Games
• YouTubeyoutube.com/ghostshipgames
• Facebookfacebook.com/ghostshipgames
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ghost-ship-games

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments2 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Ghost Ship Games