Active Fungus Studios
Unabhängiges Spielestudio aus München, 2020 von Jakob Braun gegründet. Bekannt für die Inspector-Schmidt-Reihe, entwickelt den viktorianischen City Builder Prospera.
Active Fungus Studios is a studio (Indie, Deutsches Studio, Indie) based in München, Deutschland. PlayInsider covers 1 game by Active Fungus Studios: Prospera.
Active Fungus Studios is an independent game studio from Munich. The team made its name with the Inspector Schmidt mystery series and is currently working on the Victorian city-builder Prospera. What I like about the studio is how consistently it sticks to historical settings while trying out new genres.
Contents
The Story of Active Fungus Studios
According to its press kit, Active Fungus Studios was founded in Munich in 2020. Its founder and CEO is Jakob Braun, who also serves as creative director and producer. Today's Active Fungus Studios GmbH has been listed in the Munich commercial register since January 2022. The studio started with three developers and now counts around 20 team members.
The studio receives funding from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and nordmedia, among others. Its focus is on realistic visuals, branching stories, first-person building and simulation gameplay, survival mechanics and historical settings. On the tech side, the studio names Unreal Engine 5 as its main engine.
Inspector Schmidt: 19th-Century Mysteries
Its first big game was Inspector Schmidt – A Bavarian Tale, released in February 2023. As land surveyor Valentin Schmidt, you investigate a death in rural Bavaria in 1866. The game won the GDD Indie Award 2024 for Best Story. The sequel, Inspector Schmidt – The Ebbing, followed on April 7, 2025, sending the investigator to the North Sea coast.
The team is also developing the survival builder Medieval Frontiers, in which you hunt, farm and build houses as a medieval settler.
Prospera: The Victorian City-Builder
With Prospera , Active Fungus is taking on its biggest project yet. The city-builder is set in the Victorian era, but instead of a bird's-eye view, you build your city from a first-person or over-the-shoulder perspective. The game was revealed at gamescom 2026, with Toplitz Productions on board as publisher. According to Steam, Early Access is planned for Q2 2027.
Team and Way of Working
I find the way the studio is organized really interesting. According to its website, Active Fungus sees itself as a remote company built on shared decision-making. There's a Members' Board made up of all employees, an annually elected executive board and an elected salary council. The website says the studio currently has 14 full-time employees, plus freelancers and interns.
Our Verdict
For me, Active Fungus Studios is one of the most interesting indie studios in Germany. After two mystery games, Prospera shows the team is ready to take on big simulations too. You'll find more studios in our developer overview. For more info, check out the official Active Fungus Studios website.
