What we do
We work out what a franchise actually is, then stay while it gets built.
Trick Question Studios is a creative shop for IP holders, studios and licensees. We work out what a franchise actually is across media, then work alongside the teams building it rather than handing over a document and leaving.
Every property carries a question underneath it: what is it allowed to become, and who decides. That gets settled early, usually by people who are not still there at the end. We make it a decision rather than an accident, and we stay in the room while it gets built, holding the vision, pillars and tone against what is actually being made.
The calls usually sound like this
“We inherited a live game, and the team is gone.”
Running product, no franchise definition, assets and rights undocumented.
“Nobody has touched this property in years.”
Residual recognition, no current form, and no agreed first step.
“The pitch is good. We cannot tell whether they can do it.”
Whether the team can deliver what it promises, whether the terms match the ambition of the pitch, and whether the form is the right first one.
“We are adapting a game, and nobody here plays them.”
What in the game is actually the property, what the players are attached to, and what a change to the canon costs with the audience that exists.
“Every build comes back further from the property.”
Vision, pillars, tone and target experience held against what is actually being made, milestone by milestone.
“The story does not hold together and we cannot tell why.”
Coherence, cultural and historical sourcing, voice and tone across everything that carries the property.
Who is behind it
Trick Question Studios was founded by TQ Jefferson, who has spent nearly thirty years on the licensor, publisher and developer sides of the games business, deciding what properties were allowed to become.
Alien · Spider-Man · Avengers · X-Men · The Walking Dead · Avatar · Predator · Creed. More than 100 shipped titles, at Marvel, Pixar, 20th Century Fox and Survios.
Start a conversation
Thirty minutes is usually enough to tell whether there is something here.
hello@trickquestionstudios.com