What Jumpship does

Jumpship is an independent game studio incorporated as Jumpship Limited and headquartered in Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom. The studio was founded in June 2017 by Chris Olsen, an animator and previz artist who originated the Somerville IP as a personal project in 2014, and Dino Patti, the former CEO and co-founder of Playdead (the studio behind Limbo and Inside). Jumpship's stated mission is to treat interactive media as a legitimate artistic medium, producing hand-crafted narrative experiences that explore the creative possibilities of games. The studio operates with a small team of approximately 20 named professionals spanning art, programming, animation, audio, design, and production, and is currently not hiring.

The studio's sole commercial product is Somerville, a narrative-driven sci-fi adventure game released in 2022. Somerville is built on the Unity game engine and incorporates several proprietary technical systems, including a procedural pose animation framework with emotional-state layering, IK-driven flashlight and interaction weighting, a dynamic state-based camera system, custom vertex-based shaders, and a physics-based navigation system with ledge-grab mechanics. The game is available as a one-time digital purchase on three major storefronts: Steam, Epic Games Store, and PlayStation. Critical reception was strong, with VG247 awarding a 10/10 and The Gamer and God is a Geek both awarding 9/10.

Jumpship's revenue model is entirely based on one-time digital game sales with no subscription, freemium, or in-game monetization. The studio runs a product-led go-to-market with no direct sales force, relying on third-party platform distribution, earned media from press coverage, organic social media engagement (Twitter/X), a long-running development blog dating to 2014, and external PR handled by Plan of Attack. The studio serves narrative-adventure game enthusiasts and indie game supporters who prioritize original IP and emotionally resonant interactive storytelling. In 2018, Jumpship received undisclosed investment from NetEase to fund a hiring drive and Somerville development, representing the only disclosed institutional capital event.

Name

Jumpship

Legal name

Jumpship Limited

Website

https://jumpship.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Jumpship is an independent UK game studio founded in 2017 by Chris Olsen and Dino Patti (ex-Playdead co-founder). It develops narrative-driven original IP games, with debut title Somerville, a sci-fi adventure released in 2022 on Steam, Epic Games Store, and PlayStation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Guildford

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

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 - Digital Distribution: Jumpship generates revenue through the direct sale of Somerville as a one-time purchase across multiple digital storefronts (Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation). No subscription, freemium, or in-game monetization is indicated.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Jumpship is an independent game studio that develops and publishes narrative-driven, hand-crafted video games built on its own original IP. Its sole released product, Somerville, is a Sci-Fi adventure game for PC (Steam, Epic Games Store) and PlayStation in which players navigate a rural landscape in the wake of an alien event to reunite a family, combining puzzle gameplay with cinematic storytelling.

Product overview

Jumpship is an independent game studio with a single core product offering: Somerville, a narrative-driven Sci-Fi adventure game. The studio was founded in 2017 by Chris Olsen (creator/original IP) and Dino Patti (ex-CEO and co-founder of Playdead). Somerville is available across multiple PC and console platforms including Steam, Epic Games Store, and PlayStation, and represents the studio's debut title built around an original IP.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SOMERVILLE: Sci-Fi adventure game set in the wake of catastrophe, developed by Jumpship and available on Steam, Epic, and PlayStation

Products and services

• Somerville A hand-crafted narrative Sci-Fi adventure game set across a vivid rural landscape, where players must find the means to make their family whole again in the wake of catastrophe while navigating through perilous terrain and unravelling the mysteries of Earth's visitors. Sold as a one-time purchase on Steam, Epic Games Store, and PlayStation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Somerville received a 10/10 review score from VG247, one of the highest scores possible for a game.
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature9 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• thatgamecompany: Developer of Journey and Sky: Children of the Light — premium emotionally resonant interactive experiences designed to expand the definition of games. Matches Jumpship's explicit mission of treating games as art and pushing interactive storytelling boundaries.
• Campo Santo: Studio behind Firewatch — narrative-driven indie game with strong critical reception from a small, pedigree team. Highly comparable on team size, genre, and emphasis on artistic interactive storytelling.
• Supergiant Games: Small-team developer of Bastion, Transistor, and Hades — narrative-led indie games with hand-crafted art and storytelling. Operates at a similar small-studio scale with comparable critical-acclaim patterns and indie distribution strategy.
• Hello Games: Small UK-based studio behind Joe Danger and No Man's Sky — comparable small-team scale and long-development-cycle indie model. Notable for turning a single ambitious IP into ongoing revenue and updates.
• Playdead: Danish indie studio behind Limbo and Inside — narrative-driven art games with minimalist storytelling. The closest comparable: founded by Dino Patti (now Jumpship co-founder), sharing both a creative lineage and a comparable critical-acclaim trajectory.
• Moon Studios: Austrian studio behind Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps — premium narrative platformers with strong art direction. Closely aligned on visual craft, narrative ambition, and small-team indie structure.
• Polytron Corporation: Canadian indie studio behind Fez — a small team with an original, artistic, critically acclaimed platformer IP. Comparable team scale and craft-first indie development philosophy.
• Thunder Lotus Games: Canadian indie studio behind Jotun and Sundered — small team producing hand-drawn narrative action-adventure titles. Comparable in size, artistic ambition, and indie single-IP development model.
• Team Cherry: Australian indie studio behind Hollow Knight — small team that delivered a critical and commercial hit narrative-adventure game. Comparable in team size, indie approach, and emphasis on hand-crafted artistry.

Broad incumbents

• Annapurna Interactive: Publisher of critically acclaimed narrative indie games including What Remains of Edith Finch, Outer Wilds, and Stray. Operates across many titles rather than building in-house, but defines the commercial and creative category Jumpship competes within.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/jumpshipstudio
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCrYYe7RUJTVl7uANOKYlyHw

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Jumpship