Former Valve designer, writer dishes on his new “co-op” game studio

Enlarge / Chet Faliszek, Dr. Kimberly Voll announce the creation of Stray Bombay, a new video game studio. (credit: Sam Machkovech)
SAN FRANCISCO—In 2017, game designer and writer Chet Faliszek left Valve Software. The departure was notable in part because Faliszek was perhaps second only to company co-founder Gabe Newell in terms of public exposure, but also because Faliszek's work represented a seemingly long-gone era at the game studio: one of irreverent, story-driven games that emphasized co-op (both Left 4 Dead games and Portal 2, among other titles).
Shortly after that departure, Faliszek emerged with news: he would start making games at Bossa Studios, home of goofy titles like Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread. It seemed like a good fit. Turns out, it wasn't.
After roughly a year working together, Faliszek and the Bossa Studios team 'reconvened and decided it wasn't working out,' he told Ars Technica. On one hand, Faliszek described the end of that relationship as 'the hardest breakup, because I couldn't get mad at them.' On the other, when pressed, Faliszek described the game he'd worked on as 'a kind of game they're not known for making, and kind of maybe not suited for making.'
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