Hopoo Games

Hopoo Games is an independent American video game studio known for Risk of Rain, DEADBOLT and Risk of Rain 2. Founded in 2012 by Duncan Drummond and Paul Morse while they were students at the University of Washington, the studio developed action games for PC and consoles, with a particular focus on roguelike and roguelite systems, procedural generation and escalating difficulty.

Its debut, Risk of Rain, combined 2D action platforming with roguelike progression. An April 2013 Kickstarter campaign supported the project before Chucklefish published it in November that year. Hopoo followed it with DEADBOLT in 2016, bringing its action design into a stealth-action format.

From 2D action to a 3D sequel

Working with Gearbox Publishing, Hopoo translated the Risk of Rain series into a fully 3D third-person action game. Risk of Rain 2 entered Steam Early Access in March 2019 and reached its full release in August 2020. The game sold millions of copies across PC and consoles. Hopoo also contributed to its Survivors of the Void expansion, released in 2022.

In November 2022, Gearbox Entertainment acquired the intellectual property rights to the Risk of Rain franchise. The transaction transferred the franchise rights while Hopoo retained its corporate independence. The studio subsequently developed Risk of Rain Returns, a ground-up remake of the original game, which Gearbox published in November 2023.

Development hiatus

In September 2024, the founders and many members of the development team joined Valve directly. Hopoo halted development of its unannounced project, codenamed Snail, and suspended active studio production. As of November 2026, the studio remains on hiatus, and its official website states that it is not developing new games.