# Steel Wool Studios

> Steel Wool Studios is an independent, fully remote game developer associated with Oakland, California. Founded in 2012 by five Pixar artists, it makes PC, console and VR games, including multiple Five Nights at Freddy’s titles, alongside enterprise interactive projects. Its distinctive combination is animation craft, physical interaction and licensed worlds with established fans.

- **Founded:** 2012
- **Headquarters:** Oakland, United States
- **Founders:** Sequoia Blankenship (Co-founder), Andrew Dayton (Co-founder and CEO), Jonathan Hoffman (Co-founder), Joshua Qualtieri (Co-founder), Jason Topolski (Co-founder and Creative Director)
- **Products:** Flyhunter Origins, Quar: Battle for Gate 18, Mars Odyssey, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted, Curse of Dreadbear
- **Notable:** Help Wanted ranked first in Sony’s May 2019 PS VR downloads., Help Wanted ranked fourth in Sony’s full-year 2019 PS VR downloads., Shipped multiple Five Nights at Freddy’s games across standard screens and VR.

## Products & services

- **Flyhunter Origins** — Comic platform adventure developed by Steel Wool Games and published by Ripstone; Steam release December 10, 2014.
- **Quar: Battle for Gate 18** — Turn-based VR strategy featuring competing armies of anteater-like creatures; published by HTC.
- **Mars Odyssey** — Short educational VR simulation with full-scale NASA landers and rovers.
- **Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted** — VR collection combining familiar Freddy’s scenarios with original minigames; subsequently adapted for standard screens.
- **Curse of Dreadbear** — Halloween-themed downloadable expansion for Help Wanted.
- **Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach** — First-person survival horror in the Mega Pizzaplex, starring Gregory and an allied Freddy.
- **Hello Neighbor VR: Search and Rescue** — Squad-based VR puzzle adventure developed for the Hello Neighbor franchise with tinyBuild.
- **Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2** — VR minigame sequel with six activity categories, replay variation and PS VR2 features; standard PS5 version followed in 2024.
- **Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic** — ScottGames-published horror adventure released June 13, 2025; later expanded to Xbox, Switch and VR.
- **Enterprise interactive development** — The studio describes work in virtual training and virtual therapy; public named customers and project prices are not specified.

## Achievements

- Help Wanted ranked first in Sony’s May 2019 PS VR downloads.
- Help Wanted ranked fourth in Sony’s full-year 2019 PS VR downloads.
- Shipped multiple Five Nights at Freddy’s games across standard screens and VR.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Steam PC VR update for Secret of the Mimic released May 20; studio published accompanying VR guidance and patch notes.
- **2026-04** — Secret of the Mimic available on PlayStation VR2; studio said a Meta Quest version was in development, likely later in 2026, rather than confirming a shipped release.
- **2025-12** — Secret of the Mimic launched worldwide on Xbox Series X|S December 16; Switch release dates varied by region into January 2026.
- **2025-06** — Secret of the Mimic released June 13 on PS5, Steam and Epic Games Store with planned fixes announced at launch.

## Links

- Website: https://steelwoolstudios.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steel-wool-studios/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SteelWoolStudio
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpOXWy4Erc4UNoxI9xW-CXw
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steelwoolstudios/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SteelWoolStudios

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/steel-wool-studios
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-30