Klei Entertainment is the Vancouver-based independent studio behind Don't Starve, Don't Starve Together, and Don't Starve Elsewhere. Klei develops and self-publishes its games and has shipped projects across stealth, survival, simulation, and deckbuilding over two decades. Elsewhere is the studio's first all-new entry in the Don't Starve world since 2016.
Studio Profile
Field | Detail |
|---|---|
Founded | July 2005 |
Founder | Jamie Cheng |
Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
Parent Company | Tencent (majority stake, January 2021) |
Notable Acquisition | Slick Entertainment (2017) |
Employees | Not published by the studio |
Role for Elsewhere | Developer and publisher |
Creative Director | Jeffrey Agala |
Notable Games
Title | Year |
|---|---|
Eets | 2006 |
Shank | 2010 |
Mark of the Ninja | 2012 |
Don't Starve | 2013 |
Invisible, Inc. | 2015 |
Don't Starve Together | 2016 |
Oxygen Not Included | 2019 |
Hot Lava | 2019 |
Griftlands | 2021 |
Don't Starve Elsewhere | Announced 2026 |
Rotwood | 2026 |
Studio History
Klei was founded in July 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Jamie Cheng, whom the studio still refers to as its founder. Jeffrey Agala leads its creative direction. Early downloadable titles like Eets (2006) led into Shank (2010) and Mark of the Ninja (2012), which earned Klei recognition for translating action and stealth into 2D side-on perspectives.
The April 23, 2013 release of Don't Starve set Klei's long-term direction. Its hand-drawn art, gothic humor, and uncompromising survival loop became the studio's calling card. The April 21, 2016 follow-up Don't Starve Together turned that formula into a persistent online co-op experience that is still actively supported. Klei expanded the catalog with Invisible, Inc. (2015), Oxygen Not Included (2019), Hot Lava (2019), and Griftlands (2021). Its most recent release before Elsewhere was announced is Rotwood, a co-op beast-brawler that left early access and shipped in full on March 3, 2026, about five weeks before the Elsewhere reveal.
In 2017 Klei acquired Slick Entertainment, a Vancouver developer known for the N+ series. In January 2021 Klei announced that it had agreed to let Tencent acquire a majority stake, and said it would remain in full control of its products. Klei does not publish a headcount. Its own careers page describes a small, tight team working out of Vancouver.
Don't Starve Elsewhere
Don't Starve Elsewhere was unveiled on April 9, 2026, in what Klei later described as the slot that closed the showcase, and is the studio's first all-new entry in the Don't Starve series since 2016.
Elsewhere keeps the hand-drawn look the studio built the series on and rebuilds the ground underneath it as a 3D world with vertical traversal, a long-requested jump button, and a multi-tiered, elevation-based world with mountains, cliffs, rivers, seas, and caves. Klei has also introduced the Fog, a creeping, sanity-draining hazard that sits alongside falling and starvation as one of three core failure states.
Two of these pillars line up with games already in Klei's catalog. Hot Lava (2019) was the studio's first first-person 3D project and gave the team experience with platforming and jumping in 3D space, and Rotwood (2026) kept a co-op action team working through the years Elsewhere was in development. Don't Starve and Don't Starve Together established Klei's core competency in survival systems: hunger, sanity, seasons, base-building, and procedural generation.
Klei has said it is not winding down Don't Starve Together and aims to support both games concurrently, with the older game keeping a slower update cadence. In the same April 16, 2026 post the studio said Elsewhere had by then been in development for several years, and that it was not ready to say more about the project for now. Skin carryover from Don't Starve Together is unresolved: Klei chose early in development not to let skin compatibility constrain how Elsewhere's characters were designed, but has said it would like to find a way for players to use the skins they already own. New players can start with the getting started guide.
Unconfirmed Details
The following details about the Elsewhere project have not been published by the studio.
Team size on Elsewhere versus Don't Starve Together updates has not been disclosed.
Preproduction start and milestone schedule are not public. Klei has said only that the project had been in development for several years as of April 2026.
Internal codename. Klei has never published a codename for the project. The pre-reveal teaser that pointed at it was hosted inside the studio's ongoing interactive-lore puzzle campaign for Don't Starve Together, and that campaign's name is not a codename for this game.
Game engine. Klei has not stated which engine Elsewhere uses.
Release window. The April 9, 2026 announcement included no date or quarter.
Console plans. Only PC via Steam has been confirmed at announcement.