4A Games - Page 3

4A Games is a Ukrainian-Maltese video game developer founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2006 by Andrew Prokhorov, Oles Shyshkovtsov, and Alexander Maximchuk, three developers who departed from GSC Game World, the studio behind the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. The studio was built from the outset around a custom engine, now known as the 4A Engine, which has been the technological foundation of every Metro game and has placed 4A among the most technically accomplished developers in the industry, with the series regularly used as a benchmark for high-end PC hardware. In 2014, amid the early stages of the Russo-Ukrainian war and Russia's annexation of Crimea, the studio relocated its headquarters to Sliema, Malta, while retaining its Kyiv presence. That Ukrainian office was rebranded as an independent studio called Reburn in 2025. 4A Games currently has over 200 employees and is a subsidiary of Embracer Group via its Plaion publishing arm.

The studio is exclusively known for the Metro series, adapting Dmitry Glukhovsky's post-apocalyptic novels into critically acclaimed first-person shooters. Metro 2033 launched in 2010, Metro: Last Light followed in 2013, and Metro Exodus arrived in 2019 to widespread praise for its expanded open-world structure and visual ambition. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 profoundly affected the majority-Ukrainian team, and has directly shaped the story of Metro 2039, scheduled for February 2027.