Kaizen Game Works, developer of the award-winning, open world murder mystery Paradise Killer, joins forces with Chorus Worldwide, the global console publisher of critically acclaimed indies like heart-to-heart talking simulator Coffee Talk. Kowloon Nights, a gaming fund supporting independent developers worldwide, will finance this next title, which will be revealed early next year.
Oli Clarke Smith and Phil Crabtree formed Kaizen Game Works in 2018 after working on renowned projects such as Until Dawn and Drop Dead. Debuting with Paradise Killer in 2020, Kaizen impressed players with unprecedented freedom to solve mysteries as well as a deft intentionality behind every choice, character, and building. Now fans around the world wonder what’s next from one of the UK’s most exciting new studios.
Powered by games industry veterans from Xbox, Supermassive Games, and Electronic Arts, Chorus Worldwide guides indie teams from across the globe into the limelight of a stage often crowded by AAA releases. Spearheaded by founder and CEO Shintaro Kanaoya, Chorus also helps developers access hard-to-reach Asian markets, helping innovative games like Coffee Talk and Mothmen 1966, as well as upcoming projects like Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER and Paper Ghost Stories: Third Eye Open reach a global audience.
Operating as a global video game investment fund, Kowloon Nights supports independent game developers from across the globe. Since 2017, more than 50 games have received Kowloon funding support, including Sifu, Godfall, Spiritfarer, Garden Story, and many more. Having surpassed over $150MM in shared revenue across its portfolio earlier this year, Kowloon also added eight new titles to its roster and continues to grow into 2023.
Chorus Worldwide, Kaizen Game Works, and Kowloon Nights look forward to sharing more about this upcoming project soon.
“All of us at Kaizen are delighted to be working with the teams at Chorus and Kowloon. We are once again making a game set in a strange place, full of strange people and both Kowloon and Chorus have shown nothing but complete belief in our weird game. They are a joy to work with and are helping us create something special. We look forward to showing something soon!”
“Kaizen and Chorus share many values in what we love about games, from what we play to how we think they ought to be made,” said Jez Harris, Publishing Director at Chorus Worldwide. “Our teams have a bit of history too, so we leaped at the chance to partner with them on their follow-up to the gloriously eccentric Paradise Killer. No one will guess what Kaizen has in store!”
About Kaizen Game Works
Kaizen Game Works is a UK based independent game studio formed in 2018 by two games industry veterans. Drawing on their experience working on BAFTA winning AAA narrative games and wildly popular high end mobile games, Kaizen want to change the rules around game narratives and how players experience them. With a focus on player agency and story interaction, Kaizen want to allow players to craft their own tales and express themselves within games.
About Chorus Worldwide
Chorus Worldwide is a global publisher composed of gaming veterans with experience at world-renowned companies including Microsoft, Supermassive Games, and Electronic Arts. Originally created to guide indie developers into the rapidly growing Asian markets, Chorus now works with talented developers across the world, including Argentina, Indonesia, and Malaysia, finding huge success in titles like the acclaimed Coffee Talk, and the Asian releases of The Room and The Room Two.
About Kowloon Nights
Founded in 2017, Kowloon Nights is a global source of production funding that allows developers to chart a path towards creative independence across PC, console and mobile platforms. The team continues to seek more titles to add to its portfolio; for more information, please visit https://www.kowloonnights.com/.
