Troy Baker aims to create a game studio that tells its own stories

Prolific actor Troy Baker – best known for The Last of Us (Joel), Death Stranding (Higgs) and BioShock Infinite (Booker) – has expressed his desire to start his own game studio.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Baker opened up about his experiences working with the industry's most famous directors and how he wants to use those experiences for his own projects.

Baker began talks to start his own studio

Troy Baker, wearing a beanie as his villainous character James in HBO's The Last of Us, walks through the door.

“I've had the incredible opportunity to work with the best in the industry, it's crazy – Ken Levine, Hideo Kojima, Neil Druckmann, Todd Howard, Vince Zampella – these guys are the epitome of the industry. I've worked with these guys and learned so much from them,” Baker began.

“And what I'm excited about is taking those principles, taking the principles of wildly successful titles — not just in terms of sales and numbers, but the stories that defined the industry — and being able to innovate and replicate and emulate those processes and practices into the stories I want to tell,” he continued.

Baker isn't trying to “rush” the process, but is in “early conversations” about the story he wants to tell: “So I'm going to take my time because I want to make sure that when I finally tell the story, it's one of the same high caliber that I'm trying to emulate.”

Troy Baker thinks AI shouldn't be demonized because it could mean good things for authentic experiences

Troy Baker thinks gen-AI can inadvertently help authentic experiences.

Baker cites fellow actor-turned-director Aboubakar Salim as one of his inspirations. Salim rose to fame playing Bayek in Assassin's Creed Origins and went on to found Surgent Studios, which to date has released Tales of Kenzera: Zau and Dead Take.

There aren't many examples of actors becoming successful game directors, but few actors in the game industry are as well-connected and prolific as Baker.

Baker recently starred as Jack Pepper in the rubber-hose-style boomer shooter Mouse: PI for Hire, which received mostly favorable reviews and has an average critic rating of 81 on OpenCritic.

Prior to that, Baker played the eponymous Indiana Jones in MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a game for which Baker received much acclaim for his ability to recreate the vocal mannerisms of the character and his original actor, Harrison Ford.