Monument Valley maker Ustwo is now a “PC first” studio

London-based game developer Ustwo is shifting its focus to PC.

That’s according to CEO Maria Sayans, who told Mobilegamer.biz that the company has decided to focus on PC, in part, after taking note of the “compromises” that it had to make as a mobile-first studio bringing games to other platforms. The chief executive also said that PC allows Ustwo to have a “more direct” relationship with its audience. Mobile and console, by contrast, are viewed as platforms where “reach” is the main benefit.

Ustwo has historically been a mobile-centric studio but has brought several of its projects to PC, starting with 2019 Apple Arcade exclusive Assemble with Care, which made the leap to Windows the following year. Titles such as Monument Valley, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, and Desta: The Memories Between have since been released on other platforms, including PC.

“What has changed more recently is shifting our focus to ‘PC first’ in our future titles, rather than mobile first,” Sayans said.

“This stems from a realisation that there is a ceiling to how much you can do on PC and console when you are perceived as a mobile-first game, and that you make compromises both in product design and go-to-market strategies when mobile is your lead platform.”

She continued: “In terms of platform, the shift is that we now think as PC as the base, where we can build more direct relationships with our audience and community, and console and mobile as platforms that will give us reach. So we are not abandoning any platform, just being more deliberate about the best way to build that audience and engage with it over time.

“We have three game teams, and they are at different stages of development. When the right time comes, we’ll reveal more about those games.”

Sayans was also asked about why Monument Valley 3 left Netflix after just six months on the streaming platform, where it had launched as an exclusive. The Ustwo chief executive said that its departure also “came as a total surprise” to the company. But leaving Netflix, she said, came with some benefits.

“After working with Netflix for a few years developing Monument Valley 3, the game launched in December 2024 with a strong marketing campaign behind it, and six months later they told us they wanted to take it off the service,” she said. “A number of games were taken off the service at the same time, so I assume it is related to the evolution of their content strategy and priorities.”

She continued: “Once we learnt the game was coming off the service, we took that as an opportunity to redesign the game ending and post-launch content in a way that better suited a premium product, and quickly shifted our focus to making a version for the app stores.

“We had to do it extremely quickly so it could be implemented for the version we were about to release on console. I am very proud of how the team took this in their stride, saw an opportunity to make the game better and reacted very quickly.”