Ex-Sanzaru developers form Sneaky Devil Studios with 20-year intact team as turnkey AAA pitch
Summary
Veterans of Sanzaru Games, shut down by Meta in early 2026, have launched Sneaky Devil Studios as a remote-first AAA developer seeking publishing partnerships
The founding team shares 20+ years of production history shipping for Sony, Meta, Disney, Marvel, Activision, and SEGA
Key credits include Asgard's Wrath 2 (IGN 10/10), Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, and Spyro Reignited Trilogy (10M+ units)
The pitch is structural: an intact, pre-integrated team claiming "flawless milestone delivery rate" with zero team-building friction for publishers
"After more than two decades building games together, the core development team has returned, stronger and more determined than ever."
01
Three Sanzaru leads reunite with established UE5 pipeline
Sneaky Devil Studios was founded after Meta closed several Reality Labs studios in early 2026, including Sanzaru Games
Led by Bill Spence (Head of Studio), Mat Kraemer (CCO), and Evan Arnold (CTO)
Spence directed the Asgard's Wrath series and Sly Cooper revitalization for Sony
Arnold engineered proprietary pipelines that pushed Meta Quest hardware past rated limits on Asgard's Wrath 2
Already building on UE5 with Houdini procedural workflows and proprietary CI/CD pipelines in place
Studio is remote-first, currently recruiting its founding production team
02
Pre-integrated team chemistry is the core publisher pitch
SDS frames its differentiator as eliminating ramp-up costs: 20 years of shared history means no pipeline alignment or trust-building phase
The studio's own language: "bypassing the friction of team building and going straight to world-building"
Claims "unprecedented retention" where day-one developers carry a project to gold master
This directly addresses the mid-production churn risk that inflates publisher budgets
SDS is accepting inquiries for publishing partnerships and co-development now
03
Shipped portfolio spans seven titles under five major IP holders
Asgard's Wrath 2: IGN 10/10, one of only 63 games to receive that score, D.I.C.E. winner
Asgard's Wrath 1: IGN 9.4, VR Game of the Year
Spyro: Year of the Dragon rebuilt ground-up in UE4 as part of Reignited Trilogy (10M+ units sold)
Additional credits: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Marvel Powers United VR, Sonic Boom, Tron Run/r
Every title shipped under first-party or major-IP stewardship approval pipelines
04
Staffing, funding, and debut project remain undisclosed
No team size, funding sources, or first project announced at launch
Studio describes itself as "currently architecting AAA groundbreaking experiences" with vision "locked"
Actively hiring "elite developers" for founding team, signaling leadership is set but production headcount is scaling
Kraemer confirmed to 80 Level the studio is "returning to console and PC platforms"
Events
Companies
Games
Locations
—
COMPILED BY GAMES ATLAS EDITORIAL
RELATED ARTICLES
EXPLORE MORE
Gearbox founders launch Studio Ricochet: a self-funded bet against high-burn AAA startupsBloober Team patent for sustainable scaling: strict two-team cap and Broken Mirror co-dev labelMeta AI layoffs cut 8,000 jobs while $135B infrastructure bet rewires outsourcing economicspublishing partnerships and co-development
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!