Wargaming exits Kyiv-based studio Frag Lab, it has a new co-owner now

As AIN.Capital found out, Wargaming which was a publisher for the Kyiv game studio Frag Lab and one of its stakeholders, exited the project. Frag Lab doesn’t disclose the name of the new co-owner that participated in the deal.

About Frag Lab and Wargaming cooperation

Frag Lab is a Kyiv-based game development studio founded in 2017 by ex-employees of Kyiv-based Crytek, in particular, people who worked on the Crysis franchise, Battlefield 2, and Warface. The team’s CEO, Max Dembic, was formerly the managing director of Crytek Kyiv.

In March 2019, Frag Lab and Wargaming announced a partnership: the companies informed about joint work on a new generation free-to-play shooter that was supposed to work on AWS, Amazon GameLift, and Amazon Lumberyard services. It was about the game Shatterline (now in early access on Steam), which the team continued to work on even during the full-scale war.

In August 2022, Wargaming withdrew from the project. As the company informed AIN.Capital, cooperation with Frag Lab was completed “within the optimization of the company’s product portfolio.”

“For several years, Wargaming financed the development and acted as the publisher of Shatterline, which allowed the Ukrainian studio growing from 70 to 200 employees, developing and improving the title all this time. According to Wargaming’s decision, all developments and technologies remain with Frag Lab,”

the company said.

Wargaming did not comment on AIN.Capital’s questions about the selling of a stake in Frag Lab. The company also did not confirm or deny that it was a co-owner of the Kyiv studio.

What is known about the deal

There are no details about the studio’s new partner yet. Frag Lab CEO Max Dembyk told AIN.Capital that Wargaming has indeed left the project, but the company has yet to comment on the new agreement:

“Wagaming completely left the project and the studio. As for the new partner, this information is currently confidential, as all the formalities have not yet been completed. We hope to be able to provide more details in a month.”