The short version
Probably Stolen began as a solo project by Bei Ning Pan and now has a team of four artists and three audio developers around him — roughly eight people, not a studio of dozens. Before this, he interned at Microsoft Xbox Game Studio (The Coalition), Ubisoft Montreal and Eidos.
The game was built on top of a shelved project called Space Looter, described in the developer’s own post as a turn-based sci-fi space-station crawler, reworked into a shopkeeping sim after he came back from a trip.
The inspirations, in his words
In the 3 August 2026 Steam post, the developer names his inspirations directly: Space Station 13 and “also a bit of” Papers, Please. That is a confirmed statement from the developer, not a journalist’s comparison — although PC Gamer made the same comparison independently in its demo impressions.
The distinction matters for how you read the game. Space Station 13 explains the station-as-system, the jobs and the emergent trouble; Papers, Please explains the counter, the document and the decision to report.
One unresolved origin
A YouTube preview claims the predecessor project was called Deep Space Emporium and that it is still listed on Steam. The official post says Space Looter. The sequence Space Looter → Deep Space Emporium → Probably Stolen is plausible and unverified, so this page does not resolve it.
If you are citing the origin story, cite the official post and say “Space Looter”; mention the other name only as a claim you could not confirm.
What this explains about the game
A solo origin explains the design priorities: systems that generate stories rather than scripted set pieces, a shop rather than a hero, and a first build that ships with Workshop support and a modding API on day one.
It also explains the patch rhythm. Launch-day hotfixes changed real prices within hours, and the roadmap promises free scenario updates, Expeditions and a story expansion that changes how a run can end.
Lower Levels Ledger. “Who made Probably Stolen.” Last updated 2026-10-29. https://probablystolen.games/lore/who-made-it/