Indie publisher Secret Mode has opened an internal development studio in Sheffield, England, according to a report in GamesIndustry.biz. The team launches with three staff and is planned to grow to around 20 people over the next twelve months.
Its first assignments are Escape the Backrooms and Chained Together, two titles the publisher acquired, the latter in June. Dan Secker, who joined Secret Mode as VP of technology and operations in November 2025, said the studio grew out of how much the label was paying outside contractors.
We're spending large sums of money on external development teams.
Secker told the site the Sheffield team will begin by building additional content for the two games — new levels, cosmetic systems, and platform ports — with the aim of keeping existing players engaged while bringing in new ones. Chained Together is currently available only on Steam; Secker named Xbox, PlayStation 5 and possibly Switch 2 as candidates for future releases.
Not a new-IP studio, at least for now
The studio is not intended to develop original titles, Secker said, contrasting it with the path taken by Secret Mode's former parent Sumo Digital, which refocused on co-development after being acquired by Tencent. He did not rule out original IP further down the line, saying it could follow once the support model proves itself, but said it is not what the team is being built for.
Sheffield ties
Secret Mode itself is based in Leamington Spa, while Sumo Digital remains headquartered in Sheffield. Technical development director Jake Habgood, whose CV includes Gremlin Interactive and Sumo, has lectured at the University of Sheffield, the University of Nottingham and Sheffield Hallam, where he directed the Steel Minions game studio. He said the new studio intends to keep close links with local universities and to mentor people entering the industry.
Staff at the Sheffield office will be required to work on site four days a week. Secker attributed the policy to the informal problem-solving he said businesses lost in the shift to remote work, describing the kind of exchange between teams that does not happen on a scheduled video call.
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