The Chinese Room Ltd.

The Chinese Room is a UK game development studio based in Brighton, England and it was founded by Dan Pinchbeck. It originated as a mod team for Half-Life 2 at the University of Portsmouth in 2007, which lead to the release of its first full standalone game Dear Esther in 2012 as a remake of its Dear Esther mod, one of the team's many modifications. Initially the studio was called Thechineseroom, but it was renamed The Chinese Room on 11 June 2013. It is named after John Searle's Chinese room thought experiment.

In August 2018, it became a subsidiary of Sumo Digital. On 21 July 2025, it became independent again after a management buyout.