ABOUT

We are on a journey of constant exploration, striving to keep the industry on edge.

Founded in 2012, Hinterland exists to advance the frontiers of interactive entertainment.

Through a process of constant exploration in our work and our creative process, we strive to express our unique independent spirit with our approach and our creations. By creating compelling original worlds that are deeply interactive, we engage our fans in their passion for exploration and discovery.

Founder’s Vision

We believe that video games are the future of entertainment, the only medium that truly enables players to feel the joy of exploration.

But when we look around us we see broken systems and misplaced priorities. Profit over purpose and people. Form over substance. Expediency over quality. And we see an opportunity to reset, to keep our industry on edge.

To prove that thoughtful and deeply participatory experiences marrying beauty, narrative, and technology can spawn fandoms and go on to thrive in new mediums.

It starts with our team and forging our own path. Our independence enables us to create new structures and models that prioritize player experience and depth. Without these principles coming at the cost of our own wellbeing.

It continues with our community, activating compassion and being responsible for what we promise to our players, partners, and society. From nurturing our IPs and how they are forged and delivered, to supporting causes that we care for, working with others who strive to do good, and fostering positive relationships through our gameplay.

It's our pursuit, an endless expedition.

One requiring fortitude, resourcefulness, and compassion. A commitment to mastering our craft. An embrace of accountability.

We are on a journey to keep the industry on edge.

— Raphael van Lierop

Founder, CEO, & Chief Creative Officer

Join Our Team

Approach

We believe that a high-autonomy, high-accountability culture is the best way to attract and retain the best people. We believe that attracting and retaining the best people is key to creating world-class entertainment.

We don’t micromanage people and we can’t work with people who need that. Everyone who signs on to the Hinterland mission is expected to be an active participant in the planning and delivery of great experiences for our players.

We run a remote-first organization, supplemented by two physical studio locations for those who wish to use them. We use a suite of collaboration tools that strive to replicate the good parts of in-studio work without imposing time-consuming commutes, or requiring that our team members live in expensive cities in order to contribute to our efforts.

We avoid unnecessary meetings and put a high premium on well-considered written communication, counting on documentation to help communicate goals and keep the team aligned around product vision. We are also quick to jump on a call if it seems that’s the best way to move things forward.

We are founder-led and our teams are run by discipline leads with their hands on the games. We have a light project-management process and no full-time professional managers, producers, or development directors. We expect everyone to take ownership for their work. We put product quality and the team’s wellness first. We don’t crunch. This combination also means we don’t always hit our deadlines, for which we are grateful to have such a supportive community of players.

We believe that profit is an outcome of successfully balancing creative concept, quality, timeliness, and accountability to our players and each other. Profit is a means to ensuring ongoing independence and creative risk-taking, while also being able to prioritize taking care of our people. It is not an end in itself.

We are constantly interrogating our own approach, striving to improve it via a process of constant exploration.

This applies to how we make our games, how we collaborate, and how we view our work within the broader context of the society and entertainment landscape within which we exist.

We believe that for games to have a strong impact and inspire passionate fandoms, they need a distinct point of view. This means our games may not be for everyone. Just like our studio might not be for everyone.

Our goal is to create generational entertainment IP that our children’s children will still play, and to accomplish this means expanding our worlds beyond the boundaries of the game console or PC, embracing the broader entertainment ecosystem, adapting to film, television, fiction, and physical merchandise.

We believe our independence is paramount and are expanding carefully while building in-house expertise, to ensure we can protect and nurture our own IP and carefully preserve our fans’ loyalty to us and the worlds we create for them.

We believe firmly that iteration is the key to creating successful games, teams, and processes, and we are relentless in our self-reflection about where our approach is and isn’t working. We are restless creators and passionate about our role as innovators in this industry. We are our own most outspoken critics, and are rarely satisfied with our work.

This is a journey of constant exploration and discovery, and we will never complete it. We will also never stop trying.

Team

Hinterland is a Canadian company made up of an international team of cross-disciplinary creators that span a wide range of backgrounds, skills, ethnicities, and worldviews.

We strive for our work to speak for us, and we are deeply proud of our team and the things we make. Yet we exist in a world where not everyone who contributes to our experiences will be accepted or feel safe by association. Since we cannot publicly celebrate everyone at Hinterland, we choose to stand in solidarity with our team members who require protection and anonymity online.

As a result, out of respect, we choose not to share more specific information about our team members on this site. We ask that you offer the same respect, and not contact members of the Hinterland team outside of official channels.

For more information about how to contact the team at Hinterland, please visit our Contact section.

Statement Supporting Artists

We are opposed to the existence and use of generative AI tools, which only exist due to the shameless exploitation of the artists the creators of the technology hope to displace. Hinterland does not and will never use such exploitive technology in our creations.

Current Openings

You will find more information about working at Hinterland in each of the roles described below.

Studio

General Application

Remote

Latest

Dev Diary

Dev Diary – October 2024

The Long Dark

Switch Launch, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Coming August 1st!