Tarsier Studios
CompanySweden · Founded 2004
Tarsier Studios is a game development studio based in Malmö, Sweden, with a long tradition of making world famous games such as Little Nightmares, Statik, as well as contribution to the development of the Little Big Planet franchise.
Connections
Each row is a game or company named alongside Tarsier Studios, each column a document, oldest first. A mark means that document names it. Select a row to see those documents.
About the company
- Founded
- 2004
- Country
- Sweden
Company data from IGDB.com
Key figures from the reports
Tarsier Studios' REANIMAL led the October Steam Next Fest with 8.5K new followers, driven by its connection to the 20-million-unit-selling Little Nightmares franchise.
Alinea Analytics, 2025 · Steam Next Fest: Success Stories and Best Practices
Embracer Group acquired Tarsier Studios for a total purchase price of SEK 99 million, comprised of SEK 88 million in cash, SEK 11 million in B shares, and a ten-year earnout capped at SEK 44 million.
Embracer Group, 2019 · Embracer Acquires Tarsier Studios: Investor Presentation, p. 3
Documents about Tarsier Studios
How Streaming Facilitates Affective Transformation: A Case Study of Horror Game Spectatorship
This paper examines how watching horror games through live streaming can transform fear into humour, using the platform horror game Little Nightmares (Tarsier Studios, 2017) as a case study.
- Stream spectatorship of horror games can convert fear into humour: on Bilibili, watching Little Nightmares shifts viewers from the visceral, empathetic horror felt by players toward amusement and schadenfreude.
- The paper's concept of empathetic horror arises from a player's bond with a front-facing, side-scrolling avatar, and that bond is disrupted when viewers adopt a third-person observer stance.
- Three factors drive the affective transformation: the shift from embodied to observer perspective, the introduction of new actors that change the meaning of monsters and death, and the Danmaku comment stream acting as an active participant in producing humour.
Steam Next Fest: Success Stories and Best Practices
Steam Next Fest serves as a critical promotional vehicle for unreleased titles, allowing developers to boost discoverability, grow wishlists, and increase follower counts through public-facing demos.
- Tarsier Studios' REANIMAL led the October Steam Next Fest with 8.5K new followers, driven by its connection to the 20-million-unit-selling Little Nightmares franchise.
- Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era secured 6.7K new followers and achieved over 1 million total wishlists by October 15, with 27.8% of its wishlisters actively playing the demo.
- Systemic War and Starsand Island demonstrated that regional popularity significantly impacts performance, with Systemic War over-indexing in Poland and Starsand Island drawing one-third of its wishlisters from China.
Embracer Group Q3 FY19/20 Interim Report
Embracer Group’s Q3 FY19/20 interim report details a period of significant financial growth and strategic expansion, driven by a robust digital back catalog and successful organic and acquisitive growth.
- Embracer Group reported Q3 FY19/20 net sales of SEK 1,509 million, a 9% year-over-year increase, with operational EBIT rising 54% to SEK 302 million.
- Profitability was driven by strong performance from owned intellectual property, specifically the Metro franchise, Wreckfest, and Satisfactory, alongside a growing share of digital sales.
- The company is maintaining a development pipeline of 96 projects while utilizing a decentralized management structure to attract talent and integrate new studios.
Interim Report: October–December 2019
Embracer Group demonstrated significant operational expansion and financial growth during the final quarter of 2019, driven primarily by a strategic shift toward digital sales and the ownership of intellectual property.
- Embracer Group’s core games business revenue grew by 51% in Q4 2019, driving a 54% year-over-year increase in operational EBIT to SEK 302 million.
- Total assets rose to SEK 10.7 billion from SEK 6.4 billion in the prior-year period, reflecting an aggressive, capital-intensive acquisition strategy.
- The company scaled to 26 internal studios and over 2,200 developers, bolstered by the acquisitions of Tarsier Studios and Voxler and the launch of Amplifier Game Invest.
Embracer Acquires Tarsier Studios: Investor Presentation
Embracer Group has finalized the acquisition of Tarsier Studios, a Malmö-based developer, to bolster its portfolio of original intellectual properties.
- Embracer Group acquired Tarsier Studios for a total purchase price of SEK 99 million, comprised of SEK 88 million in cash, SEK 11 million in B shares, and a ten-year earnout capped at SEK 44 million.
- Tarsier Studios will operate as an autonomous entity within the Goodbye Kansas Game Invest sub-group, shifting its strategic focus from external work-for-hire to developing and owning original intellectual properties.
- The studio employs over 60 staff members with an average of eight years of industry experience and a track record of developing million-selling titles like Little Nightmares.
