KO_OP
KO_OP
Game studio cooperative
KO_OP is a Canadian game studio cooperative based in Montreal. It was founded in 2012.
| Company type | Corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | April 1, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-04-01) |
| Founders | Saleem Dabbous Bronson Zgeb |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Gnog Goodbye Volcano High |
| Website | ko-opmode |
Studio director Saleem Dabbous and programmer Bronson Zgeb founded KO_OP in 2012 to make "visually arresting avant-garde games".[1] The studio is run as a workers cooperative with equal salary and decision-making between co-owners.[2][3] Dabbous and Zgeb used personal savings to launch the company and relied on work-for-hire to finance its own games. They struggled with inexperience in their over-scoped early projects, as they moved through a dozen prototypes and eventually cancelled two projects in full production.[1]
Gnog was nominated for Excellence in Visual Art at the 2016 Independent Games Festival[4] and released in 2017.[5] KO_OP also built "The Mirror of Spirits", an expansion for Lara Croft Go, in 2016.[6]
| Game | Platform(s) | Initial release date |
|---|---|---|
| GNOG | PlayStation 4 | May 2, 2017 |
| iOS | November 28, 2017 | |
| Microsoft Windows | July 17, 2018 | |
| macOS | ||
| Winding Worlds | Apple Arcade | May 15, 2020 |
| Depanneur Nocturne | Microsoft Windows | May 26, 2020 |
| Ridiculous Fishing EX | Apple Arcade | July 14, 2023 |
| Goodbye Volcano High[7] | PlayStation 5 | August 29, 2023 |
| PlayStation 4 | ||
| Microsoft Windows |
- Sinclair, Brendan (October 18, 2016). "Inexperience as an advantage". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- McAloon, Alissa (March 12, 2019). "The 'equal pay and equal say' structure of the game dev studio KO_OP". Gamasutra. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- Klepek, Patrick (March 12, 2019). "Giving Workers Equal Power Isn't Radical. This Studio's Done It For Years". Vice. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- Cameron, Phill (February 10, 2016). "Road to the IGF: KO_OP's GNOG". Gamasutra. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- Couture, Joel (August 9, 2018). "Building the monstrous transforming puzzle heads of GNOG". Gamasutra. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- Priestman, Chris (December 21, 2016). "The independent studio behind some of Lara Croft GO's best levels". Kill Screen. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- Romano, Sal (May 11, 2023). "Goodbye Volcano High delayed to August 29". Gematsu. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
