Paramount’s new game studio targets the Yellowstone universe, and it has a partner rule

Paramount Games Studio is officially out of stealth, and the first thing it wants to do is make games out of the TV worlds your dad already watches. Shawn Kittelsen, head of creative and production at the newly formed Paramount Games Studio, told Polygon that the studio’s first announced title is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. But he also made the bigger point quickly: the studio’s priorities include Yellowstone and Yellowstone-adjacent shows like Landman and Tulsa King. In other words, the Sheridanverse gaming pipeline is not just a rumor. It is now an institutional plan.

Kittelsen’s message has a clear boundary line: Paramount Games Studio wants to “find the right partner” to explore what those story worlds can become in games. He framed it as a relationship problem, not a creative one. “We are cultural stewards,” he said, adding that these worlds and characters “mean something to the fans who invest so much of their time and money in them.” The studio, he warned, needs to “honor that relationship” or it risks losing the audience it needs for durable, profitable franchises. That is the key stake for decision-makers: in licensed gaming, execution is business strategy.

To understand why this is a big deal, you have to remember how TV-to-games typically goes wrong. Studios can treat IP like a vending machine, slapping a license onto a mediocre product and hoping the brand name covers the cracks. Kittelsen explicitly said that approach is a mistake, describing a scenario where the company starts “like, willy-nilly licensing everything that we can and just to check boxes and fill the coffers.” In that case, “people will get wise to it,” and Paramount “won’t actually see the success that we could.” That is a very specific warning from inside the building: the problem is not licensing itself, it is the cadence and the care.

This is also a capital allocation and portfolio story. Paramount Games Studio is picking where to concentrate creative and production effort. Kittelsen listed “All of the Yellowstone and Yellowstone-adjacent titles, Landman, Tulsa King, these are all priorities for us.” He also said the studio is interested in other Paramount properties, naming Star Trek, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lioness, and Spongebob Squarepants, plus Tulsa King and Landman again. The implication for boards and exec teams is straightforward: once you create a gaming studio, you do not just pick titles. You build a philosophy about what kinds of fan ecosystems you will serve, how quickly you will ship, and what level of quality you will demand from partners.

There is another layer to this, and it is about who controls the knobs. Kittelsen said the studio wants the right partner to explore the possibilities. That means there will be negotiations that involve production capability, distribution, and creative control. It also means the game studio is signaling that it does not intend to do everything itself, at least not at first. For publishers and developers watching this, that matters because partnership terms often determine whether a licensed game feels like an adaptation or like a cash grab in a costume.

Then there is the waiting-game reality. The source notes that while the Sheridanverse is on the table, “there are no details yet as to what kind of game or games” will come out of it. If you were hoping for a co-op title based on Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, 6666, Marshals, Dutton Ranch, or the rumored 1944, the studio’s partner-first posture suggests timing could stretch. No release window is provided in the source. The only timeline we really get is structural: the first game has been announced as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, and the Yellowstone-adjacent focus is positioned as an upcoming priority.

For executives in media and interactive, the strategic takeaway is that Paramount is trying to build a long-term franchise flywheel rather than a short-term IP grab. Kittelsen’s “cultural stewards” framing is basically a governance model: treat fan trust as an asset that can be eroded. If Paramount gets the right partners and keeps the quality bar high, it can turn TV audiences into game communities. If it does not, Kittelsen’s own warning is the risk: fans will “get wise,” and the success they could have had will be harder to reach. Either way, the Sheridanverse is officially entering the games conversation, and smart teams should treat the studio’s partnership philosophy as part of the product.

In short: Paramount Games Studio is launching with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, and it wants to expand into Yellowstone and adjacent shows like Landman and Tulsa King. The studio says it will only do that with the right partner, because fans do not just buy licenses, they buy respect for the worlds they already live in.