David Sirland's Sharkmob Move: A Quiet Signal in a Secretive Studio

LinkedIn notifications are rarely the stuff of industry intrigue. Yet in 2020, one such alert—'Congratulate David for starting a new position as Producer at Sharkmob'—landed like a chess piece sliding across a board that most players had not even noticed was in play. David Sirland, formerly a producer on Battlefield 4, Battlefield 1, and Battlefield V at EA DICE, had joined a studio many fans could not place. The immediate questions were obvious: What is Sharkmob? And why did this particular hire feel like a flare in the night?

Sharkmob formed in Malmö, Sweden, in 2017. Its ranks were built from veteran developers who had worked on Hitman at IO Interactive and on the Massive team behind Ubisoft's The Division. From the start, the studio kept its cards pressed against its chest. CEO Fredrik Rundqvist offered only crumbs: the team had licensed a 'cult classic' intellectual property and intended to develop it into a franchise. That alone would have raised eyebrows. Then Tencent—owner of Riot Games and a 40% stakeholder in Epic Games—acquired Sharkmob. Suddenly, the quiet Swedish studio had a megacorporation's resources and a mystery project with franchise ambitions.

So what are they building? No one outside the studio knows for certain. But the roster tells a story. Veterans from Hitman, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and The Division 2 bring a broad range of first-person and third-person expertise. Add a producer who spent years steering Battlefield entries, and the needle points toward a first-person game with serious multiplayer ambitions. Sharkmob is a sealed vault inside a casino, with Tencent holding the keys and the veterans inside deciding which game to put on the table. 🎲

David Sirland's hire mattered for more than his résumé. Among Battlefield fans, he was a rare breed: a developer who listened like a player. Known as 'tiggr' on social media, he engaged with the community in ways many community managers never achieve. He defended the series when it deserved defending, called out its shortcomings when it did not, and explained design decisions with a candor that felt almost old-fashioned. His reputation is like a lighthouse in a fog of corporate PR—steady, rare, and impossible to fake. That trust is not something a company can buy; it is earned one conversation at a time.

Why does that matter for Sharkmob? Because a secret project is only as strong as the people who shape it. A team of decorated developers can build something technically impressive, but a producer who understands player sentiment can help steer it toward something people actually want to play. Sirland's move was a single pebble dropped into a still pond, but the ripples reached every Battlefield fan who remembered his honesty.

The studio's pedigree reads like a who's who of triple-A development. Consider the table:

Background	Notable franchises	What it suggests
IO Interactive veterans	Hitman	Stealth, systems-driven design, meticulous level craft
Massive Entertainment alumni	The Division, Far Cry	Open worlds, loot, live-service infrastructure
EA DICE producer	Battlefield 4, 1, V	Large-scale FPS combat, community-facing development
Tencent ownership	Riot Games, Epic Games stake	Deep pockets, long-term franchise thinking

That combination is not random. It is a blueprint for a game that could blend first-person action with persistent online systems and a strong intellectual property hook. The licensed 'cult classic' remains the biggest unknown. A cult classic could mean a beloved film, a tabletop game, a comic, or a forgotten game series. Each possibility carries its own gravitational pull. If Sharkmob is building a franchise, the first release must do more than launch; it must plant a flag.

By 2026, the industry has only become more consolidated, and the value of a trusted producer who can speak to players has only grown. The questions raised by Sirland's move have not disappeared; they have matured. Fans still wonder what Sharkmob is making, whether the cult-classic IP will satisfy nostalgia without being trapped by it, and how Tencent's ownership will shape the studio's independence. The answers may be locked behind NDAs, but the hiring signal was clear: Sharkmob was not assembling a small experiment. It was assembling a team capable of a major first-person franchise.

For curious players, the studio has previously invited interested playtesters to sign up for information through its website. That detail matters because it suggests Sharkmob wants feedback early, not after a marketing campaign has already hardened public opinion. In an industry where secrecy often breeds skepticism, a willingness to engage is a small but meaningful counterweight.

In the end, David Sirland's move to Sharkmob was more than a LinkedIn milestone. It was a clue. A producer known for listening joined a studio known for silence, backed by a company known for scale. The combination is a riddle wrapped in a game engine, and for fans of first-person shooters, it remains one of the more intriguing unsolved puzzles of the modern era. 🎮

Research highlighted by Rock Paper Shotgun helps frame why a hire like David Sirland can matter as much as an IP reveal: when a studio stays secretive, players fall back on signals like staffing, genre track records, and live-service intent to infer what’s coming. In Sharkmob’s case—Tencent backing, Malmö veteran talent, and a producer seasoned in large-scale FPS shipping—the most plausible read is a multiplayer-forward project where community trust and transparent iteration could be a competitive edge long before any trailer drops.