KO OP explained

KO_OP
Type:Corporation
Industry:Video games
Predecessors:-->
Successors:-->
Founded:[1]
Founders:Saleem Dabbous
Bronson Zgeb
Hq Location City:Montreal
Hq Location Country:Canada
Areas Served:-->
Products:Gnog
Goodbye Volcano High
Owners:-->

KO_OP is a Canadian game studio cooperative based in Montreal. It was founded in 2012.

History

Studio director Saleem Dabbous and programmer Bronson Zgeb founded KO_OP in 2012 to make "visually arresting avant-garde games".[2] The studio is run as a workers cooperative with equal salary and decision-making between co-owners.[3] [4] Dabbous and Zgeb used personal savings to launch the company and relied on work-for-hire to finance its own games. They struggled with inexperience in their over-scoped early projects, as they moved through a dozen prototypes and eventually cancelled two projects in full production.

Gnog was nominated for Excellence in Visual Art at the 2016 Independent Games Festival[5] and released in 2017.[6] KO_OP also built "The Mirror of Spirits", an expansion for Lara Croft Go, in 2016.[7]

List of games

GamePlatform(s)Initial release date
GNOGPlayStation 4
iOS
Microsoft Windows
macOS
Winding WorldsApple Arcade
Depanneur Nocturne Microsoft WindowsMay 26, 2020
Ridiculous Fishing EXApple Arcade
Goodbye Volcano High[8] PlayStation 5
PlayStation 4
Microsoft Windows

Notes and References

  1. Web site: KO_OP . 2024-05-23 . presskit.ko-opmode.com.
  2. Web site: Sinclair . Brendan . Inexperience as an advantage . . 2016-10-18 . en . 2020-01-12 . mdy-all .
  3. Web site: McAloon . Alissa . The 'equal pay and equal say' structure of the game dev studio KO_OP . . 2019-03-12 . en . 2020-01-12 . mdy-all .
  4. Web site: Klepek . Patrick . Giving Workers Equal Power Isn't Radical. This Studio's Done It For Years. . Vice . 2019-03-12 . en . 2020-01-12 . mdy-all .
  5. Web site: Cameron . Phill . Road to the IGF: KO_OP's GNOG . . 2016-02-10 . en . 2020-01-12 . mdy-all .
  6. Web site: Couture . Joel . Building the monstrous transforming puzzle heads of GNOG . . 2018-08-09 . en . 2020-01-12 . mdy-all .
  7. Web site: Priestman . Chris . The independent studio behind some of Lara Croft GO's best levels . . 2016-12-21 . en-US . 2020-01-12 . mdy-all .
  8. Web site: Goodbye Volcano High delayed to August 29. Romano. Sal. Gematsu. 11 May 2023. 11 May 2023.