Ghost Ship Games Explained

Ghost Ship Games ApS
Type:Subsidiary
Parent:Coffee Stain Holding
Industry:Video games
Hq Location City:Copenhagen
Hq Location Country:Denmark
Num Employees:43
Divisions:Ghost Ship Publishing

Ghost Ship Games ApS is a Danish video game developer and publisher based in Copenhagen. Founded in 2016, it is best known for developing Deep Rock Galactic.

History

Ghost Ship Games was founded in the spring of 2016 by a team of five former employees of Press Play after that studio's closure. CEO Søren Lundgaard was invited to join the company shortly after by game director Mikkel Martin Pedersen. Lundgaard and Pedersen had previously been co-workers at the defunct game studio Deadline Games for over ten years and each of the six founders had had experience in studio management.[1] The newly formed team begin work on a co-op title that they envisioned as "basically combining Minecraft and Left 4 Dead".[2] In February 2017, Swedish developer Coffee Stain Studios acquired a 30% stake in Ghost Ship Games and agreed to publish their first game, Deep Rock Galactic.[3]

Coffee Stain Publishing released Deep Rock Galactic into early access on 28 February 2018.[4] Ghost Ship benefited from the community feedback that an early access model allowed for. Early reviews of the game were very positive and the game amassed 300,000 players by September 2018.[5] The game officially left early access after more than two years on 13 May 2020.[6]

In August 2021, Coffee Stain's parent company Embracer Group acquired the remaining 70% of Ghost Ship Games, which made the studio a subsidiary of Coffee Stain Holding.[7] In November 2021, Ghost Ship announced that Deep Rock Galactic had sold three million copies and would be ported to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in January 2022.[8] [9] In June 2022 they announced they had sold 4 million copies.[10]

Ghost Ship Games announced a Publishing label for Danish game studios in February 2023.[11] The label's first three titles were subsequently announced as Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (a single player spinoff of Deep Rock Galactic), SpellRogue and DarkSwarm.[12]

Games developed

YearTitlePlatform(s)Publisher(s)
2020Deep Rock GalacticWindows, PS4, PS5, XBox One & Series X/SCoffee Stain Publishing
TBADeep Rock Galactic: Rogue CoreWindowsGhost Ship Publishing

Games published

YearTitlePlatform(s)Developer(s)
2024WindowsFunday Games
2024 (Early Access)[13] SpellRogueGuidlight Games
2025 (Early Access)[14] DinolordsNorthplay
2025 (Closed Alpha)Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue CoreGhost Ship Games
TBADarkSwarmBitfire Games

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Deep Rock Galactic Game Director Talks Rise From Six Founders to Three Million Players. 17 December 2021 .
  2. Web site: Rock And Stone! Ghost Ship Games CEO Søren Lundgaard Talks Deep Rock Galactic's Upcoming PlayStation Launch.
  3. Web site: Coffee Stain Studios: Expanding, Acquiring and Publishing. 27 February 2017 .
  4. Web site: Deep Rock Galactic Comes to Early Access, Game Preview This Month. Comic Book. TANNER DEDMON . 23 June 2018.
  5. Web site: Deep Rock Galactic and the advantages of open development. 19 September 2018 .
  6. Web site: Deep Rock Galatic [sic] Leaves Early Access This May.
  7. Web site: Embracer Group acquires 3D Realms, CrazyLabs, Digixart, Easy Trigger, Force Field, Ghost Ship Games, Grimfrost, and Slipgate Ironworks . Gematsu . August 4, 2021 . August 5, 2021 . August 5, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210805074808/https://www.gematsu.com/2021/08/embracer-group-acquires-3d-realms-crazylabs-digixart-easy-trigger-force-field-ghost-ship-games-grimfrost-and-slipgate-ironworks . live.
  8. Web site: Deep Rock Galactic Sells 3 Million Units. 11 November 2021.
  9. Web site: Acclaimed Co-Op Shooter Deep Rock Galactic Digs Down to PS5, PS4 in January. December 2021.
  10. Web site: 4 Million Units sold. June 2022.
  11. Web site: Marshall . Cass . 2023-02-16 . Deep Rock Galactic dev launches publishing label for Danish studios . 2023-02-22 . Polygon . en-US.
  12. Web site: Ghost Ship Publishing unveils first three games it will be supporting. .
  13. Web site: SpellRogue on Steam . 2024-05-05 . store.steampowered.com . en.
  14. Web site: 2024-04-29 . Deep Rock Galactic - Hey miner! Wanna hear a lot more about Season 05? - Steam News . 2024-05-05 . store.steampowered.com . en.