Steel Wool Studios, formally Steel Wool Games, is an American

video game development Video game development (sometimes shortened to gamedev) is the process of creating a video game. It is a multidisciplinary practice, involving programming, design, art, audio, user interface, and writing. Each of those may be made up of more speci ...

and publishing company located in Oakland, California. It was founded in 2012 by Sequoia Blankenship, Andrew Dayton, Jonathan Hoffman, Joshua Qualtieri and Jason Topolski. Steel Wool develops and publishes games for

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

, consoles, mobile, and

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

. The company also develops games for other publishers, like ScottGames and

tinyBuild tinyBuild Inc. is an American Video game publisher, publisher of indie games based in Bellevue, Washington. The company was established by Alex Nichiporchik and Tom Brien in 2011 to expand Brien's game ''No Time to Explain'' into a commercial ...

History

Steel Wool Studios begin their first project in March 2013, with ''Flyhunter Origin'', which would release by publisher Ripstone on Android, iOS, and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

after 20 months of development, playtesting, and tweaking. Charles Huang, co-founder of

RedOctane RedOctane, Inc. was an American electronic entertainment company best known for producing the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, beginning in November 2005. RedOctane became a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision in 2006. In February 2010, Act ...

, noticed the team early on and wanted to help them. In which, the team got a special invite, through Huang, to

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

, where they got a behind-the-scenes look at the then-upcoming

HTC Vive HTC Vive is a line of Virtual reality, virtual and mixed reality Virtual reality headset, headsets produced by HTC, HTC Corporation. The brand currently encompasses headsets designed for use with Personal computer, personal computers as well a ...

. The team was amazed at the device and pivoted their direction into virtual reality video games. They would change their name to Steel Wool Studios and make a small demo for a VR game to pitch to

HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t), or High Tech Computer Corporation (abbreviated and trading as HTC), is a Taiwanese consumer electronics corporatio ...

, which succeeded. With the newly gained funding, Steel Wool would turn their demo into ''Quar: Battle for Gate 18'', a turn-based strategic VR game, that would be released by HTC alongside the HTC Vive in April 2016. In August 2016, HTC would invest $5 million into the studio for future projects. The studio's next major title would be revealed by ''

Five Nights at Freddy's ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' (''FNaF'') is a video game series and media franchise created by Scott Cawthon that includes video games, novels, graphic novels, and films. The story arcs typically follow a night guard or other character trying t ...

'' creator Scott Cawthon in a

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

Community forum post for upcoming projects; the title would later be revealed to be '' Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted'', a VR (and later standard) survival horror game, which would release by publisher ScottGames in May 2019. In 2021, they would develop the next major title in the ''Five Nights at Freddy's'' franchise, '' Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach'', which was published by ScottGames in December. In 2022, the studio would be revealed to be the developers behind ''

Hello Neighbor ''Hello Neighbor'' is a stealth game developed by Dynamic Pixels and published by tinyBuild. Initially released as public alphas from 2016 to 2017, it received a full release for Windows and Xbox One on December 8, 2017, and later for PlayStati ...

'' creator tinyBuild's next entry in the franchise, ''Hello Neighbor VR: Search and Rescue'', in a

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

Blog, which would release by publisher tinyBuild in May 2023.

Games

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.steelwoolstudios.com/ Companies based in Oakland, California Video game companies based in California Video game companies established in 2012 American companies established in 2012 Indie game developers Video game development companies