Spud Gun Studios, the team behind gaming animation brand Mashed, has launched Killer Princess, its first original animated series. The pilot for the show has drawn more than 364,000 views in its first week and generated a strong response from a hardcore audience that has followed Mashed for years.
Killer Princess is set 100 years after the destruction of a once-idyllic video game world. A scarred princess and her gang fight their way back through the ruins of their kingdom in a story that is dark, funny and built for a gaming audience. The pilot is rich with gaming mechanics, visual nods and the kind of tonal contrast Mashed viewers love.
“This is the start of a new era for Mashed,” said Tom Payne, managing director and co-founder, Spud Gun Studios. “We want it to become the launchpad for a new wave of young adult animated shows coming out of the UK, and a partner that helps games publishers launch new IP into a crowded market through storytelling people actually want to watch. We picked Killer Princess as our first show because it sits right alongside the storytelling our audience already love. It has the themes and visual language they respond to, it weaves in gaming at every level.”
In addition, said Payne, “we always felt the characters and the world could grow into other forms over time, from toys to games and beyond”.
Following the pilot, Spud Gun Studios has committed to a first full-length episode of Killer Princess, pencilled for September 2026. The launch will be accompanied by an exclusive Killer Princess toy range produced in partnership with Youtooz. A second original pilot, written with an external writer, is already in development.
Spud Gun Studios is a Bath-based animation studio working across animation, gaming and the creator economy. Mashed is one of the world’s largest gaming animation brands, with 7.5 million followers and over 500 million views a year.
