Punch Up Games: A Game Developers Cooperative Announces Its Debut, A Worker-Owned Studio Built to Change How Games Get Made
Debut title Dig Too Deep demos during Steam Next Fest June 15-22, 2026
SEATTLE, WA - May 2026 - The games industry has spent the last several years making headlines for the wrong reasons. Tens of thousands of developers, designers, and artists have been laid off. Creative teams dissolved the moment a spreadsheet stopped looking shareholder-friendly. Into that moment steps Punch Up Games: A Game Developers Cooperative, a worker-owned indie game studio with co-owners in Seattle, Portland, and Toronto with a straightforward proposition: it does not have to be this way.
Punch Up Games is not a traditional studio. There are no investors to answer to, no publisher pulling strings, and no executive with the power to discard the people who do the work. Every one of the studio's eight co-owners has equal stake in what they build. Decisions are made collectively. Success and failure are shared. And the creative work stays in the hands of the people who care most about it.
The studio makes its public debut alongside the announcement of Dig Too Deep, its first game, which will demo during Steam Next Fest June 15-22, 2026.
Built From Frustration. Built to Last.
Punch Up Games did not begin with a pitch deck or a funding round. It began with a layoff. Actually, three of them.
"After being laid off for the third time in my career, I wanted to work somewhere that was immune to the whims of a businessman," said Chris Watkins, Founding Member and Co-Owner of Punch Up Games. "I took all my anger about the state of the world and my whining about the way things should be and I finally recognized a viable path has existed all along. Cooperatives have existed for a long time. They thrive when oligarchies oppress workers. I think it is a perfect match for the moment."
Watkins pitched the cooperative model to former colleagues, assembled a founding team, and Punch Up Games was born. The studio operates on a belief that the people who make the games should own them. A radical belief by industry standards.
A Clear Stance on AI
In an industry increasingly saturated with AI-generated art, writing, and design, Punch Up Games draws a firm and deliberate line.
"We despise what LLMs are doing to the world," said Watkins. "We do not use AI for any creative purpose. Not for art, not for writing, not even for placeholders. Just help with code."
Every pixel, every line of dialogue, every design decision in Dig Too Deep was made by a human being with skin in the game.
Dig Too Deep - Proof of Concept
When a cooperative of developers owns their work and has the freedom to build without fear of being discarded, what do they make?
Apparently they make a game about throwing goblins at everything.
Dig Too Deep is a chaotic action physics roguelite tower defense. A game where goblins are your weapons, your workers, and your only real asset. Direct your goblin crew, build your base, craft your defenses, and survive escalating waves of enemies that reward skill, punish complacency, and never play out quite the same way twice.
It is funny, it is chaotic, and it was built by people who believe their industry can be better.
The Dig Too Deep demo is available during Steam Next Fest June 15-22, 2026. Wishlist now on Steam.
About Punch Up Games: A Game Developers Cooperative
Punch Up Games is a worker-owned indie game studio with co-owners based in Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and Toronto, Ontario. Founded on the belief that creative people deserve to own their work, the cooperative operates without publishers, investors, or corporate hierarchy. Eight co-owners. Equal stakes.