Frictional Games is a small independent studio known for first-person horror and narrative games: Penumbra, the Amnesia series and SOMA. Its next announced title is ONTOS, a sci-fi mystery now aimed at 2027.
History
Frictional was founded on 1 January 2007 by Thomas Grip and Jens Nilsson. It began as a virtual company, nominally in Helsingborg, with people scattered across Europe. The studio later opened a Malmö office that houses about half the team; the rest work remotely.
Games
Penumbra: Overture launched on 20 March 2007. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (8 September 2010) became the studio’s breakout. SOMA followed on 22 September 2015. Later Amnesia games from Frictional include Rebirth (autumn 2020) and The Bunker (6 June 2023). Frictional also published Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (2013), which was developed by The Chinese Room in the UK — not a Swedish-developed title.
Now
ONTOS, described as a spiritual successor to SOMA, was revealed at The Game Awards 2025 with Kepler Interactive as publisher. In July 2026 Frictional pushed the release from 2026 to 2027, calling it the studio’s most ambitious game. Through 2026 it has also run community mod jams on its HPL engine.
Headquarters
The public visitor address is the Malmö office. The studio still lists a Helsingborg contact address (Södra Strandgatan 4), where the company was originally based.
Stora Nygatan 36, 211 37 Malmö, Sweden
Sources: About Frictional, Press kit
