Atom Switch teams up with Hiro Capital and 1Up Ventures for InfestStation
Development team to focus on players and developers first with their Triple-I Co-Op Sci-Fi Game
Atom Switch, Inc. has received a $3.4 million USD investment from Hiro Capital and 1Up Ventures to develop their inaugural title, InfestStation. Founded with an emphasis on Triple-I development Atom Switch aims to make games with a AAA level of polish and sophistication but without the budgetary bloat and crunch that comes along with them. Determined to “Be The Change”, Atom Switch was created to steer clear of the wrongs they see in the gaming industry around them. With a focus on quality of life – for the players and the team, they assert that crunch is not a scheduling tool, toxic work culture is not a consequence of growth, and micro-transactions are not the sole foundation for success.
“This player and developer forward approach is founded on a framework of mutual respect, transparency, inclusion, accountability, and trust,” said Studio Founder Dan Sandberg. “These are things that shouldn’t be a novel concept, they should be the norm.”
“Put simply, InfestStation is a game the Hiro team were desperate to play from the moment we heard the pitch. Atom Switch presented an incredibly compelling take on the cooperative survival genre,” said Spike Laurie of Hiro Capital. “We are thrilled to be able to support them in building their vision and a games studio of the future.”
In InfestStation you will take on the role of a scavenger trawling derelict spaceships for salvage and recovery on the fringes of outer space. Nothing this valuable is abandoned without a reason though, and you are not alone. This Co-op PvE multiplayer FPS is being developed on Unreal Engine 5 for a PC and console launch.
Cold, mechanical futurism combined with scrappy derelict space hulks create these gritty dark spaces where shadow and sound play on the mind. Tight, claustrophobic pathways connect larger areas to create a web of space ripe for hidden clues and jump scares. Once-gleaming hard surfaces are marred by stain, decay, and the overgrowth of infestation and abandonment which add organic touches to an otherwise metallic landscape.
You and your crew of salvagers will be tasked with exploring these areas to pilfer, ransack, and maybe even recover the vast sums of abandoned resources but it won’t be safe and it won’t be easy – and your crew might not be alone on those ships either.
With a team that has worked on everything from Fortnite to Darksiders, this group of industry veterans will combine AAA experience with the scrappy DIY perspective that comes from indie game jamming and a pre-industry upbringing in the Half-Life 1 mod scene of the early 2000s.
Developers that haven’t lost their love for their craft, they know their audience because they are a part of it and that connection fuels their commitment to open and transparent development with a promise to never answer questions with “it’ll be done when it’s done” or “because making games is hard.”
About Atom Switch, Inc.
Founded in 2013 by CEO and Creative Director Dan Sandberg, Atom Switch has grown from his professional freelancing and consulting hub to a fully independent game development studio. Their core team of 6 developers will grow to 11 over the following months as they build out their team and engage in the production of InfestStation.
About Hiro Capital
Hiro Capital is a London / Luxembourg technology Venture Capital fund which invests in UK, US and European innovators in Games, Metaverse Technology, Esports and Digital Fitness. Hiro Capital generally invests at the post-seed Series A and B stages. We invest both in front-end Content creators in Games, Esports and Digital Sports and in deep tech Metaverse applications of Cloud, Mobile, Streaming, Big Data, AI, Wearables, AR and VR technologies. – https://hiro.capital/
About 1Up Ventures
1Up Ventures is a venture fund focused on building a community of independent game developers. Founded by Ed Fries, former vice president of Microsoft Game Studios and a co-founder of Xbox, Fries opened the fund in 2019. 1Up Ventures is located in Kirkland, Washington.
