2K announced in February 2020 that the studio was officially named 31st Union, a nod to its San Francisco Bay Area roots and based on California being the 31st state to join the United States. Condrey said in the announcement that the studio's ideals reflected the diversity of California's and Silicon Valley's spirit of innovation in art, technology, and entertainment and cultural representation. Condrey had committed to establishing the culture of this studio on its founding, calling it "a clean canvas", and stressed the importance of diversity in the creative process. In addition to the new branding, 2K also announced plans to open a second studio for 31st Union in
Spain. and which was to be revealed within 2020, according to 2K. Michael Chu, previously the narrative director for
Blizzard Entertainment's
Overwatch, joined 31st Union in July 2020 as their narrative director. On November 9, 2021,
2K acquired Elite3D, rebranding it as a 31st Union studio and a 2K Publishing arm. On January 19 2024, it was reported that 31st Union had let go a small number of employees. The company confirmed it had laid off "less than 10" employees. On October 17 2024, 31st Union and 2K announced
Project Ethos, a free-to-play roguelike hero third-person shooter, for PC,
PlayStation 5 and
Xbox Series X/S. In February 2025,
Kotaku reported that 2K had fired Condrey after
Project Ethos failed to stir any interest. He was replaced by Ben Brinkman, who previous served as an executive producer for the
Call of Duty series and
Apex Legends. == References ==