In a significant move that promises to reshape how entertainment properties are developed and distributed, Bungie co-founder Jason Jones and veteran narrative director Margaret Stohl have officially announced the formation of a new, Los Angeles-based venture titled Stone Kite. The company is positioning itself not merely as a production house or a game studio, but as a "world-building studio" designed to dismantle the traditional silos that have long governed how stories are adapted across different mediums.
The launch of Stone Kite marks a notable reunion for two industry heavyweights. Jason Jones, a legendary figure in the video game landscape, is best known for his pivotal role in creating the foundational Halo and Destiny franchises, series that defined the modern shooter genre and pushed the boundaries of interactive storytelling. Margaret Stohl, an accomplished creative who has navigated multiple creative disciplines, brings a wealth of experience to the CEO chair. In addition to her work as a narrative director on Destiny 2, Stohl is a celebrated novelist—most famous for her Beautiful Creatures series—and a seasoned producer who previously co-founded 7 Studios with Lewis Paterson, a company that was later acquired by Activision.
The core mission of Stone Kite centers on a fundamental shift in the creative process: rather than creating an intellectual property in a single medium—such as a book or a game—and then struggling to adapt it into other formats, Stone Kite intends to bring creators from diverse fields together at the very inception of an idea. This approach aims to build "worlds" that are inherently multi-dimensional, ensuring that the lore, characters, and narrative arcs are robust enough to exist simultaneously across various platforms.
"I’ve spent my career creating books, games, comics, film, and television, and I’ve seen how often the medium that tells the first story ends up defining everything that comes after it," Stohl explained in a statement regarding the studio’s philosophy. "Stone Kite is about breaking down those old media silos. Instead of starting in one medium and adapting outward, we bring the best global creators from different disciplines into the room from day one to shape the world together."
This ambitious vision is being put into practice immediately with the studio’s inaugural project, One Zero One. The property is based on an original manuscript authored by Jones, which the studio has spent time cultivating into a sprawling narrative. One Zero One is set against the backdrop of a looming, high-stakes global conflict: a struggle for survival between humanity and a rogue, AI-driven army of robotic soldiers.
In keeping with the studio’s desire to reach audiences across different platforms, the narrative will debut as a four-part comic book series. The project is designed for accessibility, with the issues slated for an online, free-to-read release beginning in early 2027. Following this digital introduction, Stone Kite plans to expand the One Zero One universe through additional media projects, leveraging the foundational world-building work currently underway.
To support this expansive vision, Stone Kite has assembled a leadership team comprised of industry veterans with deep expertise in media production and narrative design. Alongside CEO Margaret Stohl, the team includes president Lewis Peterson, who brings extensive operational experience; former media SVP Stephen Wacker, who provides strategic oversight; VP of film and TV Matt Johnson; and narrative creative director Jeanine Schaefer. This collective leadership is tasked with managing the studio’s ambitious roadmap and overseeing the massive collaborative effort required to bring One Zero One to life.
The scope of Stone Kite’s collaboration network is perhaps its most distinguishing feature. The studio is currently working with a roster of over 250 creators from across the entertainment industry. This diverse group includes high-profile talent such as director and producer Jay Roach, whose work spans acclaimed comedies and serious political dramas; comic book writer and artist Christian Ward; renowned illustrator Kyle Lambert; award-winning author Stephen Graham Jones; and screenwriter Akela Cooper. By pulling from such varied backgrounds—ranging from the visual precision of comic illustration to the structural demands of screenwriting—Stone Kite hopes to ensure that the stories they produce possess a depth and cohesion that is often lost in traditional cross-media adaptations.
For Jason Jones, the founding of Stone Kite represents a personal milestone as much as a professional one. Reflecting on his journey from a dedicated consumer of sci-fi literature to a creator, he recalled the formative experiences that fueled his passion for storytelling. "I used to bike fifteen miles along Lake Michigan to the used bookstores in North Chicago, and bike home again with a backpack full of sci-fi paperbacks," Jones noted. "Margie was the first person to believe I could write a book of my own, the first person to read it, and the one person I trusted to help me develop it into epic entertainment that leaves the world a better place."
The partnership between Jones and Stohl is rooted in this mutual trust and a shared frustration with the limitations of current industry practices. While many companies attempt to turn successful games into films or hit books into games, these efforts are often viewed as secondary products—adaptations that may lack the "soul" or internal consistency of the original source material. Stone Kite’s model attempts to bypass this issue by treating the "world" as the primary product, with the various media formats acting as windows into that world, rather than derivatives of one another.
As the industry watches to see how One Zero One performs upon its 2027 release, the success of Stone Kite will likely depend on whether this collaborative, "day-one" approach to world-building can truly deliver a more cohesive experience for the audience. By placing a heavy emphasis on bringing top-tier talent from film, literature, and art into the initial planning stages, Stone Kite is betting that the future of entertainment lies not in sequels or spin-offs, but in the deliberate, cross-disciplinary construction of entire narrative universes. For now, the studio remains in the active development phase, utilizing its vast network of collaborators to refine the lore and visual identity of its debut project, setting the stage for what it hopes will be a new standard for how stories are told in the modern era.