Halo Creator Jason Jones Launches Stone Kite, Reveals One Zero One

Bungie cofounder Jason Jones and bestselling author Margaret Stohl have launched Stone Kite in Los Angeles, debuting the One Zero One universe with a free comic series.

Stone Kite, a new Los Angeles-based world-building studio, officially launched with Bungie cofounder Jason Jones and #1 New York Times bestselling author Margaret Stohl as cofounders. Stohl serves as CEO, and the founding team also includes former Marvel Comics editor Jeanine Schaefer, film and TV writer Matt Johnson, and former Activision Blizzard executive Lewis Peterson. According to GamesBeat, Stephen Wacker was a founding member but left to become the new editor in chief of Marvel Comics. The studio's stated premise is that audiences no longer experience stories through a single dominant medium, so creators from film, television, comics, literature, and games come together from day one to shape original universes rather than adapting outward from one medium.

The surprise is that Jason Jones — cofounder of Bungie and creator of the Halo and Destiny franchises, which GamesBeat estimates have generated roughly $15 billion in lifetime value and reached more than 250 million players, viewers, and readers — is stepping out from behind games to write. Per GamesBeat, Jones said he had spent his whole life making games but always wanted to write, recalling biking fifteen miles along Lake Michigan to used bookstores in North Chicago with a backpack full of sci-fi paperbacks. Stohl was the first person to believe he could write a book of his own and the one he trusted to develop it, a reversal for a creator best known for shipping blockbusters rather than manuscripts.

Stone Kite's first universe, One Zero One, grew from an original manuscript by Jones and debuts with One Zero One No. 1, the first installment of a four-part limited comic series that includes never-before-seen excerpts from that manuscript. The story is set in a near future where humanity faces a coming worldwide conflict against a rogue army of AI-driven robotic soldiers. According to VGChartz, new issues will release for free online through 2027, with prose, audio, and screen projects further expanding the universe throughout the year. The debut issue carries covers from Björn Barends, Paolo Rivera, Tula Lotay, and Peach Momoko, with future covers from Adi Granov, InHyuk Lee, and Esad Ribić.

Per ScreenRant, Stone Kite has been in the works for four years and has drawn contributions from more than 200 creators across film, television, comics, and literature, including director Jay Roach, novelist Stephen Graham Jones, screenwriter Akela Cooper, and Stranger Things illustrator Kyle Lambert. One Zero One itself draws on heavyweight talent: Eric Heisserer, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Arrival, plus Kris Anka of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and artists including Dan Panosian and Ramón Pérez. ScreenRant also notes that Griffin Gaming Partners is listed among the studio's investors, a firm whose portfolio is heavy on game developers — a possible hint at gaming plans, though the studio has not confirmed any.

Stohl frames the venture as breaking down old media silos: instead of starting in one medium and adapting outward, creators from different disciplines shape the world together, building communities the studio listens to so people can explore its universes for decades in whatever ways they want. Game Informer tempers the ambition with precedent, noting that developer Reflector Entertainment pursued the same all-media strategy for its Unknown 9 universe, only for plans to be paused after Unknown 9: Awakening missed expectations and layoffs followed.

One Zero One No. 1 is available to read digitally at ozo.stonekite.com, and print editions can be pre-ordered at store.stonekite.com with a robust variant cover program; GamesBeat reports the debut also features a fourth Peach Momoko variant cover that will be a retailer exclusive launching soon. Free online issues continue through early 2027, and prose, audio, and screen projects are planned to expand the universe in the meantime. The open question fans will watch is whether games themselves join the roadmap — ScreenRant says the studio has not explicitly confirmed gaming plans, leaving Jones's next interactive project unannounced even as Griffin Gaming Partners' presence fuels speculation.