Typhoon Studios

Typhoon Studios was a Canadian video game developer founded in February 2017 in Montreal, Quebec. Established by Alex Hutchinson, Reid Schneider and Yassine Riahi, it focused on action-adventure games combining first-person exploration, imaginative world-building and satirical humor. The studio closed in February 2021 following Google's shutdown of its internal game development operations.

The founders brought experience from major game productions: Hutchinson had served as creative director on Assassin's Creed III and Far Cry 4, Schneider had worked as an executive producer on Batman: Arkham Origins and Splinter Cell, and Riahi brought technical direction experience. Their ambition was to build mid-tier “super-indie” games, occupying a space between small independent projects and large-budget AAA productions, with strong artistic direction and a distinctive comic voice.

Debut game

Its debut, Journey to the Savage Planet, was revealed at The Game Awards in December 2018. Published by 505 Games, the first-person science-fiction exploration adventure launched on Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2020, followed by Nintendo Switch in May 2020. A Stadia edition followed in February 2021. The project brought together the studio's interests in exploration, cooperative gameplay and humorous narrative design.

Typhoon's development capabilities included prototyping, full-cycle game production, Unreal Engine development and multiplatform console and PC work. Its output centered on interactive entertainment rather than outsourced services across unrelated creative industries.

Acquisition and closure

Google acquired Typhoon Studios on December 19, 2019, placing it under Stadia Games and Entertainment. The team continued to fulfill its existing multiplatform publishing commitments following the acquisition. Google closed its internal development studios on February 1, 2021, ending Typhoon's operations.

Former leadership and staff subsequently established Raccoon Logic, a legally distinct successor that recovered the Journey to the Savage Planet intellectual property and source code from Google. Its later sequel, Revenge of the Savage Planet, belongs to Raccoon Logic's development history.