Frictional Games AB is a Swedish company that creates video games independently. It is located in Malmö and was started in January 2007 by Thomas Grip and Jens Nilsson. The company focuses on making survival horror games that include very little or no fighting. It is most famous for creating the games Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010) and Soma (2015).

History

Frictional Games was founded by Thomas Grip and Jens Nilsson. Before starting the company, both had little experience in the video game industry, having only done some freelance work. They began working together when Nilsson joined Grip on a project called Unbirth, which was later cancelled. They later worked on other projects and officially started Frictional Games on January 1, 2007. The company was based in Helsingborg, Sweden, though most employees worked from other parts of Europe. Frictional's first game was Penumbra: Overture, based on a tech demo titled Penumbra and released in 2007. It was originally planned as the first game in a trilogy, but due to issues with its publisher, Lexicon Entertainment, Frictional changed partners to Paradox Interactive. Under Paradox, the next two games in the trilogy were released as one game titled Penumbra: Black Plague in 2008, followed by an expansion called Penumbra: Requiem the same year.

Over a three-year period, Frictional created and self-published Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The game was released on September 8, 2010, and received generally positive reviews. However, Frictional expected the game to struggle with popularity and profit because it did not have a third-party publisher. Amnesia: The Dark Descent sold 36,000 copies in its first month and 1,360,000 copies within two years, earning about $3.6 million in revenue compared to a development budget of $360,000. According to Nilsson, the team did not know how to continue the Amnesia series and worried that a poorly made follow-up game would fail. Instead, they hired The Chinese Room as a third-party developer to create a second game. Frictional provided advice on the horror elements, while The Chinese Room handled the story and gameplay. The game, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, was released in 2013.

While working on A Machine for Pigs, Frictional began developing a new game, which became Soma. The game was announced shortly after A Machine for Pigs was released and self-published on September 22, 2015. It received generally positive reviews and sold 92,000 copies in ten days, compared to 20,000 copies sold in the first week of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. In its first year, Soma sold 450,000 copies, compared to 390,000 copies sold in the first year of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

In 2016, Frictional Games announced it was starting production on two new, unannounced games due to the success of Soma. By 2019, the company planned to begin pre-production on a third unannounced game. In August 2017, Frictional moved its offices from Helsingborg to new locations on Stora Nygatan in Malmö. At that time, the company had 16 employees, with half of its 25 staff members working in the Malmö offices. Amnesia: Rebirth, a follow-up to The Dark Descent, was announced with a trailer in March 2020 and released in October 2020.

Frictional Games released Amnesia: The Bunker on June 6, 2023, marking the fourth game in the Amnesia series.

As of October 2025, Frictional Games began releasing an ARG (alternate reality game) teaser for a joint project with Kepler Interactive. Updates to SOMA directed players to an interactive website for a fictional Hotel Samsara, encouraging them to sign up for future updates. Ontos, a spiritual successor to SOMA, was announced with a trailer at the 2025 Game Awards. The game will feature Stellan Skarsgård and follow a story about a search for answers that quickly becomes something far stranger.

Technology

The HPL Engine is a game engine developed by Frictional. It is named after the writer H. P. Lovecraft. The first version of the engine, called HPL Engine 1, was used to create the Penumbra series. This version became open-source software on May 12, 2010, with most of its code licensed under GNU GPL-3.0-or-later. HPL Engine 2 was used for Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, as well as early versions of Gone Home. It was also released under the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later license on September 23, 2020. HPL Engine 3 was used for Soma and later became HPL Engine 3.5, which was used in Amnesia: Rebirth and Amnesia: The Bunker. A newer version, HPL Engine 4, is planned for use in Ontos.