Joey Drew Studios Inc.
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded 📆 | July 31, 2018 |
| Founders 👔 |
|
| Headquarters 🏙️ | 540 Lacolle Way[1], , |
Area served 🗺️ | Worldwide |
Key people | Mike Desjardins (CEO)[2] |
| Products 📟 | Bendy games |
| Owner | Mike Desjardins (50%)[2] |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 4 (2025) |
| Parent | Kindly Beast[lower-alpha 1] (2018–2020) |
| 🌐 Website | joeydrewstudios.com |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Joey Drew Studios Inc. is a Canadian independent video game developer based in Ottawa, Ontario, that is responsible for creating and hosting the horror franchise Bendy. The company was founded by Paul Crawford[lower-alpha 2] and Mike Desjardins[lower-alpha 3] on July 31, 2018 to work on the Bendy series of games, while also partnering with other companies to expand the brand into various forms of multimedia.
History
On February 21, 2017, eleven days after the release of the first chapter of Bendy and the Ink Machine, Joey Drew Studios Inc. was incorporated in Canada.[3] However, it wasn't yet an active development team and the work carried out for Bendy was by theMeatly Games, established in 2015.
On July 31, 2018, Joey Drew Studios was officially founded by Paul Crawford and Mike Desjardins as its own brand under theMeatly Games, although this was not publicly announced at the time. Following this, the Bendy and the Ink Machine website was rebranded as joeydrewstudios.com around July, with the copyright credit for the Bendy brand listing Joey Drew Studios. theMeatly Games still owned the IP through Joey Drew Studios but used the Joey Drew Studios name exclusively for Bendy projects. However, no public announcements for this decision were made until later in the year. Also in 2018, Karman Interactive developed Bendy in Nightmare Run, a mobile endless runner, in partnership with Joey Drew Studios and PhatMojo.[4] The game was released in the same year on August 15th and September 27th, on iOS and Android platforms respectively.
On September 15, 2018, Crawford announced theMeatly Games was being rebranded to Kindly Beast to better represent the team as a 'beast of creativity and kindness.' He also explained that the Joey Drew Studios brand would continue to be used for Bendy projects, even though the team was the same six people, as this separation was primarily done to keep the brands better organized and easy to navigate.[5] Later on October 26, 2018, Joey Drew Studios released Chapter 5: The Last Reel, the last chapter of Bendy and the Ink Machine, which received mixed reviews from players.[6]
At the beginning of 2019, Kindly Beast would massively expand their development team thanks to the success of Bendy and the Ink Machine. In February in the same year, Kindly Beast acquired Karman Interactive, the studio behind the mobile spinoff Bendy in Nightmare Run. With the Karman team, Kindly Beast reached approximately 25 full-time employees, with plans to expand even further. Later, on February 10, Joey Drew Studios announced a new Bendy game was being made. When asked about its nature in an interview, Desjardins explained the game was not a sequel, a prequel, or a direct continuation to Bendy and the Ink Machine, but was still Bendy-related.[7] On the same day the main company Kindly Beast also announced their own original project, Showdown Bandit, a top-down, stealth, action, horror game set in a Western puppetry show.[8]
On April 14, the title of the new Bendy project was revealed to be Bendy and the Dark Revival, with the first chapter planned to release in fall 2019 as revealed in the first gameplay trailer.[9] Also during this period, Kindly Beast grew their studio further, having around 60 employees. The Kindly team continued working on Episode 1 of Showdown Bandit but faced technical issues behind-the-scenes with the project not turning out the way Crawford and Desjardins wanted, due to this they missed the original release date of August 29, 2019, and took the project for themselves and remade it in three weeks, discarding their team's work without any notice.[10][2] Showdown Bandit was released on September 17, 2019 and was met with mixed reviews.[11]
Later on October 13, just before Canadian Thanksgiving, it was reported Kindly Beast had laid off just below 50 employees without notice, leaving only around 10 people on the team and shelving all projects except Bendy and the Dark Revival. This sparked major controversy as the ex-members were left jobless and negative reviews of various employees on Glassdoor also surfaced, adding to the tension.[12] On December 16, Mike Desjardins, CEO of Kindly Beast, released an AMA post on Reddit where he answered questions about the situation with Kindly Beast. He later tweeted an open apology to the employees he fired on his deleted Twitter account.[10] Following the controversy, Showdown Bandit was taken off of Steam due to the firings and shelving of the project, leading to its permanent hiatus.
After the restructuring, Joey Drew Studios continued on as the main company, and the remaining team members began full-time development on Bendy and the Dark Revival.[12] As a result of the debacle, Kindly Beast's website, along with its other social media platforms, were shut down on June 1, 2020, confirming the team's discontinuation with no official announcement made. However, the host website is still currently available.
During the development of Bendy and the Dark Revival, Joey Drew Studios released a top-down spinoff titled Boris and the Dark Survival on February 10, 2020, starring Boris the Wolf, which acted as a form of filler before the release of the Dark Revival.[13]
On August 1, 2021, Kindly Beast was amalgamated into Joey Drew Studios per the discontinuation of the brand.[14]
Around mid-2022, the Bendy in Nightmare Run app failed to load when run by users, encountering an error and restarting.[15] It was later taken down by Joey Drew Studios due to costs, and the fact that it was already going to be taken down due to non-compliance, Karman Interactive also went out of business. On Halloween 2022, Joey Drew Studios published a teaser video on their YouTube channel for the official trailer of Bendy and the Dark Revival, revealing it will arrive tomorrow.[16] Tomorrow, on November 1st, the trailer released, revealing the release date of the game to be November 15, 2022.[17] The game released on said date and received positive reviews.[18]
On October 31, 2023, a new side project was announced, being the spinoff Bendy: The Cage, a mature take on the horror aspect of the series.[19] On December 25, 2023, Christmas day, Joey Drew Studios announced they partnered with Radar Pictures for the production of a movie adaptation for Bendy.
On April 14, 2024, a new game called Bendy: Secrets of the Machine released without any public announcements from Joey Drew Studios except for a Steam page that went live on April 2nd. The game was used as a teaser for upcoming projects with updates dropping regularly upon official announcement or releases. On Halloween 2024, it was announced that André Øvredal was hired to direct the Bendy and the Ink Machine film adaptation, while another film company, Double Down Pictures, joined in development of the film.[20] On December 16, the official trailer for Bendy: Lone Wolf, the successor to Boris and the Dark Survival, was published, confirming the game will release sometime in 2025.[21]
On July 3, 2025, the release date trailer for Bendy: Lone Wolf was published, revealing the date to be August 15th.[22] Following this, Boris and the Dark Survival was discontinued to make room for its successor and rebrand. Lone Wolf then released on the aforementioned date on all platforms, excluding mobile whose ports were still in production.
Employees
- Mike Desjardins (Chief executive officer, programer)
- Paul Crawford (Lead game designer)
- Stephen Crawford (Brand manager)
- Ben Lacroix (Head of animation)
Games
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-2018 | Bendy and the Ink Machine | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android |
| 2018 | Bendy in Nightmare Run | iOS, Android |
| 2020 | Boris and the Dark Survival | Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android, iOS |
| 2022 | Bendy and the Dark Revival | Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch |
| 2024 | Bendy: Secrets of the Machine | Microsoft Windows, macOS |
| 2025 | Bendy: Lone Wolf | Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android |
Notes
References
- ↑ "Joey Drew Studios Inc". Canada Corporation Directory. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 [deleted] (December 16, 2019). "I'm Mike Mood, CEO of Kindly Beast, Ask me anything". Reddit. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Joey Drew Studios Inc". Datalog.co.uk. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
- ↑ Lord, Craig (January 31, 2018). "Ottawa-made viral hit 'Bendy' heading to mobile and console gaming". Ottawa Business Journal. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ theMeatly (September 15, 2018). "What's happening to TheMeatly Games?! Big News... Again! :D". YouTube. Archived from the original on September 15, 2018.
- ↑ "Bendy and the Ink Machine: Chapter Five – Reviews". GameFAQs. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
- ↑ Asarch, Steven (February 11, 2019). "'Bendy and the Ink Machine' Creators Announce Two New Titles, Studio Expansion". Newsweek. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
- ↑ Richards, Jordan (September 18, 2019). "Showdown Bandit – demo thoughts". AIPT. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ Araullo, Kenneth (June 26, 2019). "Bendy And The Dark Revival Gets An Announcement Trailer". One Player. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chris Portal (June 24, 2022). "The Bendy Controversy, Revisited | The Story of Joey Drew Studios". YouTube. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
- ↑ "Showdown Bandit". Metacritic. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Valentine, Rebekah (October 14, 2019). "Bendy and the Ink Machine studio Kindly Beast lays off just under 50". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
- ↑ Good, Julia (February 13, 2020). "'Boris and the Dark Survival' Listens for a Chilling Heartbeat". Indie Games Plus. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2025. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Kindly Beast Inc". Canada Corporation Directory. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ Federal_Ad_3046 (June 12, 2022). "Bendy In Nightmare Run not working". Reddit. Retrieved September 7, 2025.
- ↑ Joey Drew Studios (October 31, 2022). "The Dark Puddles Awaken". YouTube. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
- ↑ Romano, Sal (November 1, 2022). "Bendy and the Dark Revival launches November 15 for PC, later for PlayStation and Xbox". Gematsu. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ "Bendy and the Dark Revival". Metacritic. Retrieved September 7, 2025.
- ↑ Williams, Monica (November 1, 2023). ""BENDY: THE CAGE" Game Officially Announced". nerdbot. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ Navarro, Meagan (October 10, 2024). "'Bendy and the Ink Machine' Movie Adaptation In The Works with Director André Øvredal". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ Joy, Justin (December 18, 2024). "New Bendy: Lone Wolf Game Announced". ComicBook.com. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
- ↑ Gilbert, Fraser (August 11, 2025). "Bendy: Lone Wolf Is Giving Us A 'Thrilling Survival Adventure' On Xbox This Week". Pure Xbox. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
External links
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