Small Axe Studios

Small Axe Studios is a AAA game-development studio operating as an internal division of publisher 2K Games. Based in Metro Vancouver, the team was incubated in 2023 as 2K Sports Lab, an exploratory research-and-development collective focused on next-generation sports-game technology. It was formally unveiled under the Small Axe Studios name in August 2026.

The studio is developing a new, unannounced AAA sports franchise from the ground up. The project uses Unreal Engine 5 and remains undisclosed in both title and specific sport. Small Axe Studios has not yet released a commercial game; its work is centered on building a new original sports property rather than the established 2K sports franchises developed by sister studios.

Development focus

Its reported capabilities span the technical and creative disciplines required for contemporary sports simulation:

• AAA sports-simulation gameplay and systems development
• Unreal Engine 5 engineering, architecture, and current-generation console optimization
• Character art, 3D asset creation, and procedural hair grooming
• Locomotion, kinematics, advanced physics, and real-time rendering systems
• Motion-capture data cleanup and athletic-animation pipelines
• Live-service systems architecture, tools engineering, and interactive-entertainment R&D

Building a new sports property

Small Axe Studios is led by Vice President, Executive Producer, and Studio Head Aaron McHardy, whose prior career included leadership roles on major sports franchises at Electronic Arts. The studio is staffed across engineering, animation, art, design, operations, and production as it builds its new franchise.

The public name references the adage that, with vision, drive, and focus, a small axe can take down a big tree—an idea aligned with the team's ambition to create a major new contender in sports gaming.