Skylines and Life is Strange leads establish new Dublin studio

Day Off Interactive, a new Irish studio led by former Cities: Skylines lead designer Karoliina Korppoo and Life is Strange producer Des Gayle, has broken cover.

Quietly founded back in July 2024, the nascent studio will specialize in crafting “innovative strategy and simulation games.” According to an announcement, the 14-person team will work remotely from across Europe and adhere to a four-day work week. The studio received funding from angel investors to kickstart work on its debut title, which it intends to announce later this year.

Day Off is comprised of six core developers and cohort of contractors. The core team includes creative director Karoliina Korppoo (former Cities: Skylines lead designer), head of production Des Gayle (former Life is Strange and Citizen Sleeper producer), technical director and data systems architect Colman Humphrey (co-founder and former CEO of Slight), fractional marketing director Jayne Robinson (former marketing director at Other Things), studio director and product owner Ethan Grant (bizdev and product strategist for over 11 years), and deputy studio director and designer Karl Rabbitt (multidisciplinary designer and product lead for over a decade).

The contractors include talent across voice acting, concept art, graphic design, and music composition. Day Off is also working with development partners MobiusCode (Exotic Matter) and Cyborn (Wall Town Wonders, Horizon: Forbidden West). The founding team said they chose to work with external collaborators after taking part in SpielFabrique’s annual Match program, where the “benefits of cross-studio collaboration were adopted both for better quality processes and risk mitigation during development.” 

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“Day Off Interactive’s core values include innovation through simulation, sustainable business growth, and community connection, fostering a welcoming and trusting environment for dialogue and idea sharing,” reads the announcement. “The team works 100 percent remotely and has adopted the four-day work week, in keeping with the brand name.”

The game development scene in Ireland has experienced ups and downs during the last handful of years. In November 2022, Virtuos subsidiary Black Shamrock announced it was nearly doubling its workforce, bringing the 120-person Irish studio up to about 200 employees. Last month, Virtuos confirmed layoffs across Asia and Europe, but didn’t specify which of its studios were affected.

In May 2023, Dublin-based Keywords acquired triple-A support studio Hardsuit Labs for an undisclosed fee, with the purpose of Hardsuit becoming the company’s first studio in Seattle. 

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The headlines became less savory last year, however, when Blizzard reportedly laid off almost 140 workers in Ireland.

More recently, Romero Games was plunged into crisis after an unnamed publisher (reported to be Microsoft) suddenly revoked project funding. The Galway-based studio is currently attempting to chart a path forward.