Stunlock Studios
Swedish studio behind V Rising and Battlerite, majority owned by Tencent.
On the record
Checkpoint: First substantive reveal (gameplay, window, reception) of Stunlock's unannounced next game
The call
Stunlock closed the book on V Rising and now waits on one unannounced game, with Tencent's money as the only thing between them and irrelevance.
Stunlock Studios made V Rising, a vampire survival game that reached 6 million players, but officially ended it in March 2026 and is now spending the next several years building a completely new game nobody has seen yet. This is risky because survival games are easy for other companies to make, and competitors like Valheim, Rust, and Palworld already have way more players and money behind them. The only thing that matters now is whether this secret new game actually works when it comes out, which could take years and might never happen.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI tools speed up asset and code work industry wide, but no AI product is replacing survival crafting games or their communities. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: Iron Gate (Valheim), Facepunch (Rust), Pocketpair (Palworld), and Obsidian/Xbox (Grounded 2). All four sell more units in the same survival crafting genre, and Grounded 2 shows a platform giant beating Stunlock at its own game. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Tencent's majority ownership funds a multi-year bet on an unannounced game, buying time other small studios don't get.
What would change this call
Stunlock's unannounced game gets a real gameplay reveal by mid-to-late 2027. Would show development is on track and the studio's next revenue engine is materializing.
The new title slips past 2028 with no gameplay shown publicly. Would indicate the single-title bet is stretching and portfolio risk is rising.
Tencent announces studio closures or re-prioritization within its game-studio holdings. Would show whether Tencent is consolidating away from Stunlock or reaffirming support.
The new title slips past 2028 with no gameplay shown publicly. Would indicate the single-title bet is stretching and portfolio risk is rising.
Tencent announces studio closures or re-prioritization within its game-studio holdings. Would show whether Tencent is consolidating away from Stunlock or reaffirming support.
Key numbers
- V Rising sold 6M units
- Concurrent players fell 97%, 150k to ~5k
- Headcount grew from ~28 to ~40
Named risks
- Entire studio future rests on one unannounced game still very early in development with no release date.
- V Rising active player base collapsed roughly 97 percent from May 2022 peak to mid-2026.
- Larger, better-funded genre rivals (Valheim, Rust, Palworld, Xbox's Grounded 2) already outsell Stunlock's flagship.
- Dependency on Tencent as majority owner amid industry-wide 2026 layoff and studio-consolidation wave.
- No independently verified revenue figures exist, limiting visibility into studio financial health.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Valheim (Iron Gate) | losing to | 12 million plus units sold vs V Rising's 6 million as of Nov 2025, per Feb 2024 comparison |
| Rust (Facepunch) | losing to | 16 million plus units sold, the dominant PvP survival title as of Feb 2024 |
| Palworld (Pocketpair) | losing to | Reached 12 million units in two weeks of Early Access in 2024, dwarfing V Rising's pace |
| Grounded 2 (Obsidian/Xbox) | losing to | 3 million players in first two weeks, July 2025, with Xbox platform distribution backing |
| Tencent (own portfolio) | contesting | Majority owner since July 2021 also invests in Kuro Games, Game Science, Bluepoch, creating reallocation risk |
Questions people ask
- Is Stunlock Studios profitable in 2026?
- No audited financials are public. V Rising has sold about 6 million units as of November 19, 2025, but concurrent players fell from a peak of 150,645 in May 2022 to roughly 5,000 to 6,000 by July 2026, and the game was declared complete on March 26, 2026 with no further paid content planned.
- Who owns Stunlock Studios?
- Tencent is the majority owner. Tencent took a 31 percent minority stake in November 2019, then increased to a majority stake in July 2021, per Stunlock's own press release dated July 19, 2021. Stunlock still operates with independent studio management under Tencent's ownership.
- What is Stunlock Studios working on after V Rising?
- On March 26, 2026, Stunlock announced V Rising is complete with no 1.2 update planned, and revealed it is building a new, unannounced game set in the same universe, called its most ambitious project in 15 years, still very early in development with no release window.
- Could AI replace Stunlock Studios' game development?
- Unlikely to replace the core product. Stunlock's value rests on hand-crafted world-building, PvP design, and live community management around V Rising's roughly 6 million unit install base as of November 2025, which are not easily AI-substitutable, though AI may cut art, QA, and localization costs.
- Who is Stunlock Studios' biggest competitor?
- In the survival-crafting genre, Valheim has sold over 12 million copies and Rust over 16 million as of a February 2024 comparison, both dwarfing V Rising's roughly 6 million units by November 2025. Palworld hit 12 million copies in two weeks in 2024, showing how fast new hits can eclipse incumbents.
- Did V Rising stop getting updates?
- Yes. Stunlock declared V Rising complete on March 26, 2026, confirming no version 1.2 content update is planned. The last major free update was 1.1 'Invaders of Oakveil' on April 28, 2025, and a free weekend promotion ran in May 2026 to support the existing player base.
Timeline
- 2026-05Free weekend promo and Community Highlights dev update for V Rising
- 2026-03-26V Rising declared complete, no 1.2 planned; new unannounced universe game revealed
- 2025-11-19V Rising reaches roughly 6 million units sold
- 2025-04-28V Rising 1.1 'Invaders of Oakveil' major free update released
- 2025-01-09V Rising sales top 5 million units
- 2024-02-02V Rising surpasses 3.9 million copies sold
- 2021-07-19Tencent increases stake to majority ownership of Stunlock Studios
- 2019-11Tencent acquires 31 percent minority stake in Stunlock Studios
- 2010Stunlock Studios founded in Skovde, Sweden
Revision history
23 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Stunlock Studios (2026-05-06)
- 'V Rising' Claims Another Milestone With Six Million Units Sold (2025-11-19)
- V Rising sales top five million (2025-01-09)
- V Rising surpasses 3.9 million copies sold: how it compares (2024-02-02)
- V Rising Steam Charts · SteamDB (2026-07-22)
- Tencent takes major stake in Stunlock Studios (2021-07-19)
- Stunlock Studios & Tencent Partnership (2021-07-19)
- Stunlock Studios Stock Price, Funding, Valuation, Revenue & Financial Statements
- V Rising hits 5 Million Sales (2025-01-09)
- Stunlock Studios (2021-07-20)
- Stunlock Studios (2025-05-10)
- Stunlock Blog (2026-05-13)