Until Dawn studio CEO steps down shortly after Directive 8020 launch

Supermassive Games CEO Robert Henrysson has announced he will be stepping down from the company. Henrysson led the studio behind horror titles such as The Quarry, Until Dawn, and The Dark Pictures Anthology for over two years.

Henrysson made the announcement on LinkedIn on Monday, writing, “Today marks the end of a very rewarding chapter of my professional life.” In addition to departing his role as CEO of Supermassive, Henrysson is also leaving his role as a partner in the developer’s parent company, Nordisk Film, which he joined in 2022. “To everyone at Supermassive Games,” Henrysson continued, “I am so grateful for everything I’ve learnt and experienced with all of you. You are the greatest storytelling game studio on earth, you rock! And I wish you all the best in the future.”

Supermassive Games is best known for developing cinematic-inspired horror games. The studio garnered widespread critical acclaim with 2015’s Until Dawn. The Sony-published game defined the studio’s signature style of playable films that emphasize player choice in determining whether characters live or die. Supermassive honed this type of experience with its Dark Pictures Anthology as well as 2022’s The Quarry. Response to the Dark Pictures games has been mixed from entry to entry.

At the beginning of 2024, Supermassive’s co-founders, Joe Samuels and Pete Samuels, left the studio. Samuels had served as CEO of the company for 15 years and was Henrysson’s predecessor in the role. That February, the studio faced restructuring that reportedly threatened 90 roles. In 2025, 36 employees were laid off, and it was announced the studio’s next title, Directive 8020, was delayed. Directive 8020, a sci-fi horror game inspired by films like The Thing and Alien, finally released this May to middling reviews. Like many past games in the Dark Pictures series, it is a mixed bag. In our review, we called it, “a missed opportunity for the series to prove it’s more than just a B-movie in video game form.”

It has, at times, seemed like Supermassive Games is constantly chasing the success of its initial breakout title, Until Dawn. Since its initial release, that game has seen spinoffs, a remaster, and a film adaptation. Most recently, Sony announced during a June 2026 State of Play that an official sequel is in development. Until Dawn 2 is set to be released in 2025 and is being developed by Firesprite Games, which previously made PlayStation VR game Horizon Call of the Mountain. The new Until Dawn is a stand-alone experience that features a new cast and story. This time around, it focuses on a crew of ghost hunters on an abandoned tropical island where nothing could possibly go wrong. The cast includes Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things), Neil Newbon (Asterion in Baldur’s Gate 3), Gavin Leatherwood, and Tanner Buchanan.