For the past decade, Renegade Kid has been one of the most recognizable names on the Nintendo DS series of consoles, appearing for retail and in the eShop earlier than many other studios—and sticking around a lot longer than many indies, too. The studio’s offerings have been solid and developed a strong following for their releases, which included some very recognizable titles like Mutant Mudds and Dementium: The Ward.
But here we are, with some recent hiccups in the studio’s history, and co-founders Jools Watsham and Gregg Hargrove made the decision to split, close Renegade Kid, and found their own studios. The IPs have been divided between their new businesses, named Atooi and Infitizmo. Atooi isn’t a brand-new name on the scene, as Watsham already released a game for iOS some time ago called Totes the Goat under Atooi’s banner.
Here’s the official statement from the studio co-founders:
Renegade Kid has announced that its co-founders, Jools Watsham and Gregg Hargrove, have made the difficult decision to bring their 10-year partnership of developing games together as Renegade Kid LLC to an end.
With their friendship and respect for each other still very much intact, Watsham and Hargrove will continue developing videogames under the names of their new companies: Atooi and Infitizmo.
The award-winning library of Intellectual Properties that Renegade Kid has created over the past decade will be finding new homes. All of Renegade Kid’s “2D” games, including the Mutant Mudds series and Treasurenauts, will become the property of Atooi. All of Renegade Kid’s “3D” games, including the Dementium series and Moon Chronicles, will become the property of Infitizmo.
We hope you will share in the excitement that both Jools and Gregg feel for their new journeys. You can follow their progress on twitter: @AtooiLLC and @InfitizmoLLC.
It sounds like an amicable split with all parties still friends at the end, but it’s still sad to see a decade-long (and well known) business come to an end.
