Sus very sus, we might be heading towards another title filled with VCs.
Small Axe Studios opened this week in Vancouver. Aaron McHardy will run it as head of studio, vice president and executive producer. He was 18 years at EA Vancouver, most of them as executive producer on FIFA, before moving across Madden and College Football and leaving for 2K in 2023.
Now let us take a closer look to the leadership list.
Gary Paterson, head of design, is a 22-year veteran whose credits run through FIFA, FIFA Manager, FIFA Street and NBA Live, most recently as studio design director at Criterion on Need for Speed. So another FIFA veteran.
Tom Pan, head of operations, spent 20 years at EA across UEFA Champions League, SSX, Tennis, NHL, UFC and FIFA. Another FIFA veteran.
Mike Thompson leads engineering, also ex-EA. John Cruz, technical art director, is a 25-year veteran who worked FIFA, FIFA Street, NBA Street, Skate and Dead Rising across EA Vancouver, Capcom Vancouver and Skybox Labs. Another FIFA veteran.
Brent Breedveld is animation director, Karl Gryc art director, Trisha MacWan head of HR.
That's five senior hires with FIFA on their resume, ironically running a studio in the city where EA still develops FC.
What 2K actually say
"As part of our commitment to investing in new IP and growing our sports portfolio, we are thrilled to confirm that Small Axe Studios will endeavor to build 2K's next blockbuster sports franchise," the company wrote. "Led by Aaron McHardy, the studio combines the passion of a startup with the scale of 2K to redefine the future of sports video games."
McHardy leaned into the name: "This studio exists to take on the industry's boldest challenges, and our name reflects that: with vision, hunger, and focus, a small axe can take down a big tree."
Which big tree, he didn't specify to be honest. The publisher points to its record on NBA 2K, WWE 2K and PGA Tour 2K as the foundation, and says it'll share more later.
The gap in the portfolio
2K covers basketball, wrestling and golf. It has no football titles yet. But we do know there was some whispers between FIFA and 2K.
EA split from FIFA in 2022, rebranding following FIFA 23 to EA Sports FC. FIFA announced that they intend to back its own games and has licensed its name to other developers, but hasn't put out a major console title since the split. The most valuable licence in sports gaming is sitting there, that is enticing.
Some have also noted the Small Axe logo resembles a crest of the sort you'd find on a football shirt. Make of that what you like.
None of this is confirmation. 2K hasn't named a sport, nor a platform or a window, and the studio is still hiring for key positions, which puts it in build-out rather than production lock. Even if they are intending to build it, it is still years away.
The second one this year
Small Axe is 2K's second new studio this past year. In December 2025, Take-Two hired two developers off the Perfect Dark reboot to head up another new team.
It's a strange time to be opening AAA studios. The ASGC tracker projects north of 14,000 industry job losses across 2026, and Vancouver has taken its share. 2K is going the other way, staffing up a team of expensive senior veterans for a franchise that doesn't exist yet. Time will tell.
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