After Netflix pulled the rug from under Monument Valley 3 six months after launch, its developer says it’s a ‘PC first’ studio: ‘we can build more direct relationships with our audience and community’
Monument Valley was an award-winning phenomenon on mobile back in 2014 that made its way to PC eventually, as did its sequels and several other games by its developer, Ustwo. That studio has now apparently moved on from mobile-first development, as CEO Maria Sayans recently told Mobile Gamer.
“What has changed more recently is shifting our focus to ‘PC first’ in our future titles,” Sayans said, “rather than mobile first. This stems from a realisation that there is a ceiling to how much you can do on PC and console when you are perceived as a mobile-first game, and that you make compromises both in product design and go-to-market strategies when mobile is your lead platform.”
If, like me, you only know Ustwo for Monument Valley—a pleasant puzzle game about mazes made of Escher-esque optical illusions, with snacky levels well-suited to phones—the studio is also responsible for a surreal turn-based tactics game set inside someone’s mind as well as a nature-loving photo safari that’s helping the environment in the real world.
