Yellow Brick Games
Yellow Brick Games is an independent Quebec City video game studio founded in 2020 by BioWare and Ubisoft veterans that self-publishes original action-adventure IP, with debut title Eternal Strands released in January 2025 on Steam.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersClarke City, Canada
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Yellow Brick Games does
Yellow Brick Games Inc. is an independent video game studio founded in February 2020 in Quebec City, Canada, by four industry veterans from BioWare, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts — Thomas Giroux (CEO), Mike Laidlaw (CCO, formerly creative director of Dragon Age), Jeff Skalski (COO/Executive Producer), and Frédéric St-Laurent B. (Game Director). The studio operates from a Quebec City headquarters and a Montreal satellite office opened in March 2023, with a remote-friendly team that spans 11+ nationalities. Its sole commercial product is Eternal Strands, a fantasy Action-Adventure debut title released January 2025 after roughly four years of development on Unreal Engine, built around a design philosophy of system-driven, emergent gameplay.
The studio's core technology stack is Unreal Engine, with creative differentiation positioned through proprietary system-driven design intended to deliver emergent moment-to-moment player experiences. The founding team's prior franchises — Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Watch Dogs, and Assassin's Creed — anchor a human-centered studio culture that has won consecutive Best Places to Work Canada awards (2022, 2023) from GamesIndustry.biz.
Yellow Brick Games generates revenue through a one-time-purchase license model on its debut title, self-published directly to consumers globally via Steam after dissociating from a prior Private Division (Take-Two Interactive) publishing arrangement in March 2024. The customer segment is the horizontal mass-market core gamer persona seeking original IP. To date the company has not disclosed external institutional funding, and revenue remains concentrated on a single SKU distributed through a single channel.
Yellow Brick Games firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Yellow Brick Games
- Legal name
- Yellow Brick Games Inc.
- Website
- https://yellowbrickgames.ca
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Yellow Brick Games is an independent Quebec City video game studio founded in 2020 by BioWare and Ubisoft veterans that self-publishes original action-adventure IP, with debut title Eternal Strands released in January 2025 on Steam.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Yellow Brick Games is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Clarke City
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Yellow Brick Games business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Video Game Sales: One-time purchase model for 'Eternal Strands' fantasy action-adventure game releasing January 2025. Self-publishing approach gives studio full control over revenue from game sales.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
Yellow Brick Games product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Yellow Brick Games is an independent video game studio that designs, develops, and self-publishes premium fantasy video games. Their debut title, Eternal Strands, is a fantasy Action-Adventure game featuring system-driven gameplay that brings emergence to the moment-to-moment experience. The studio sells its games directly to consumers via digital platforms such as Steam.
Product overview
Yellow Brick Games is an independent video game studio that has released its debut title, Eternal Strands, a Fantasy Action-Adventure game. The company was founded in 2020 by four industry veterans and focuses on creating original, high-quality titles with innovative gameplay systems and intriguing new worlds.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Eternal Strands: Fantasy Action-Adventure game - the studio's debut title released in January 2025.
Products and services
- Eternal Strands Eternal Strands is Yellow Brick Games' debut title — a Fantasy Action-Adventure video game released in January 2025, designed for core gamers seeking original, system-driven experiences. The game features system-driven gameplay that brings real emergence into the moment-to-moment experience, producing unique player-driven outcomes, with environments that encourage exploration and craft-focused action.
Quantifiable outcome
- Won 'Best Places to Work Canada' award in 2022 (small company category) and 2023 (medium-sized company category)
Companies that use Yellow Brick Games
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Yellow Brick Games technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Yellow Brick Games partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Private Division (Take-Two Interactive)formerInitial publishing partnership announced around 2022. Studio announced in March 2024 they would take the self-publishing route, dissociating from Private Division. This change does not affect plans to release debut title in 2025.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Yellow Brick Games competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Dontnod Entertainment (Don't Nod): French independent studio (Life is Strange, Vampyr) - a similarly mid-sized premium narrative and action-adventure developer with self-publishing ambitions and a single-title-per-cycle model.
- Supergiant Games: Small (~30-person) US-based independent studio behind Hades, Bastion, and Transistor - a premium narrative-driven action game maker with similar scale, self-publishing model, and focus on systemic gameplay innovation.
- Deck13 Interactive: German independent developer (The Surge, Lords of the Fallen) operating as a similar mid-sized self-publishing studio focused on premium action-adventure games with systemic combat mechanics.
- Hazelight Studios: Swedish independent studio behind It Takes Two and Split Fiction - a comparable self-publishing indie premium game studio with similar headcount and a single flagship title-driven model.
- Red Barrels: Montreal-based independent studio (Outlast series) with comparable Canadian tax-credit funded indie model, AAA-veteran founders, and self-publishing premium games at similar team size.
- Compulsion Games: Montreal-based independent studio (We Happy Few, Contrast) with similar Canadian AAA-veteran founding profile, premium action-adventure focus, and comparable studio size to Yellow Brick Games.
- Sabotage Studio: Canadian independent studio (The Messenger, Sea of Stars) - a Quebec-adjacent indie premium action game maker with similar self-publishing approach and comparable small-team scale.
- Moon Studios: Austrian independent studio (Ori and the Blind Forest, No Rest for the Wicked) operating at similar headcount and self-publishing premium action-adventure titles with system-driven mechanics.
Broad incumbents
- Larian Studios: Belgian independent developer of Divinity: Original Sin and Baldur's Gate 3 - a larger but operationally comparable independent premium RPG studio that self-publishes, demonstrating the endgame of Yellow Brick's strategic playbook.
- Remedy Entertainment: Finnish publicly-listed independent developer (Control, Alan Wake) - a broader incumbent comparable as a self-publishing premium narrative action-adventure studio with established systemic gameplay franchises.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Yellow Brick Games social profiles
Digital presenceYellow Brick Games financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Yellow Brick Games leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Yellow Brick Games funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Yellow Brick Games M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Yellow Brick Games
What does Yellow Brick Games do?
Yellow Brick Games is an independent video game studio that designs, develops, and self-publishes premium fantasy video games. Their debut title, Eternal Strands, is a fantasy Action-Adventure game featuring system-driven gameplay that brings emergence to the moment-to-moment experience. The studio sells its games directly to consumers via digital platforms such as Steam.
Is Yellow Brick Games a public or private company?
Yellow Brick Games is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Yellow Brick Games founded?
Yellow Brick Games was founded in 2020. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Yellow Brick Games based?
Yellow Brick Games is headquartered in Clarke City, Canada, in the North America region.
How does Yellow Brick Games make money?
One revenue line is on record: video Game Sales.
Who are Yellow Brick Games's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Dontnod Entertainment (Don't Nod), Supergiant Games, Deck13 Interactive, Hazelight Studios, Red Barrels, Compulsion Games, Sabotage Studio and Moon Studios. Broad incumbents are Larian Studios and Remedy Entertainment.
Does Yellow Brick Games have an API?
No public API is recorded for Yellow Brick Games.