Games industry veterans launch new independent studio, Mountaintop Studios

A new independent, remote-first studio has launched, founded by four games industry veterans. Mountaintop Studios is founded by Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell, Double Fine COO Matt Hansen, Rich Lyons – formerly of Naughty Dog and Vigil, as well as Mark Terrano, creative director at Oculus and CCO & cofounder at Hidden Path.

A blog post from Mountaintop explains the name of the new studio, which links to its underlying philosophy.

“For us, the rush comes from the climb. It’s the level you can’t quite seem to beat. It’s the boss fight that takes hours to master. It’s the opposing team that’s in the lead — until you break through and snatch the win.

“But it isn’t just the thrill of victory. It’s looking back and seeing how far you’ve come. How you were forced to grow, adapt, and improve. It’s the satisfaction of knowing you’re better than you were before. And sometimes, it’s sharing the joy of the climb with your friends.

“That’s at the heart of what we’re doing: making the types of games that inspired us to new heights as kids and building new mountains for gamers to conquer together.”

The studio describes itself as being remote-first, but primarily being located in the United States, and is currently working on its first, unannounced title.

The team say that they’re looking to keep the studio small, to enable an atmosphere where “amazing ideas can come from anyone,” and so is looking to build a studio of roughly 50 people. “Games are a reflection of the teams that make them,” said the studio. “So to make the best games, we’re building a studio that puts the team first — one that’s collaborative, anti-crunch, diverse, and inclusive.”

Those interested in joining the team can view Mountaintop Studios’ vacancies here.