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Sad Owl Studios

Sad Owl Studios is the Scottish team behind Viewfinder. Thunderful publishes the game. A named follow-up had not been announced by 31 Oct 2026.

Wikipedia and a BBC report line up on the studio history. Viewfinder began as an experiment by Matt Stark in 2019. The team was called Robot Turtle, Thunderful acquired it in October 2021, and the name became Sad Owl Studios. The BBC describes a small Scottish crew; the published range I am willing to repeat is roughly ten to twenty people, which is how those two pieces size the group, not a headcount I audited. Stark is the director. The game’s site is sos.games/viewfinder. I did not find a separate studio “about” page with a staff list, so I am not inventing roles.

In April 2024 the game won BAFTA’s British Game award and the New Intellectual Property award. It was also nominated for Debut Game and Game Design. Those are the BAFTA facts I will state. The Japan Game Awards 2024 Game Designers Award is a separate prize, recorded on Wikipedia. Stark told the BBC that building on Viewfinder was the studio’s priority and that the next project would have something to do with Viewfinder. An Italian interview says sequel or DLC is in their plans and that a sequel was not expected before 2026. I stop there. No title, no date, no format.

People land on the studio name from the store page and then ask whether the team is Filipino, or whether a mobile studio shipped an APK. The team is Scottish. The phone question is answered on the mobile page. Patch history and the “no DLC yet” line are on updates. This page is only the studio.

Viewfinder screenshot of a white arch and placed photograph, via Steam
Viewfinder, the studio’s released game. Sad Owl Studios / Thunderful, via Steam.
Viewfinder screenshot of overgrown white architecture, via Steam
Sad Owl Studios / Thunderful, via Steam.

Questions

Who made Viewfinder?

Sad Owl Studios developed it. Thunderful publishes it. Matt Stark is the director.

Is there a sequel?

No named next game had been announced by 31 Oct 2026. The studio has said the next project relates to Viewfinder.

Sources