Epic Games Publishing has unveiled publishing deals with three celebrated development teams. Remedy Entertainment, Playdead, and gen Design are the three studios in question, each of which have entered into multi-platform partnerships with Epic. Remedy, of course, is the studio behind Control and Alan Wake. Playdead is best known for indie darling Limbo. Meanwhile, Ico and The Last Guardian visionary Fumito Ueda leads genDesign.
In announcing the news, Epic Games shared the following video. While the brief video does not offer insight into the newly signed deals themselves, it certainly paints a picture of why Epic is getting involved with these three. The publisher wants to sign visionaries, giving each a chance to expand and build new worlds worry-free.
All three will maintain their independence. As such, according to Remedy’s Sam Lake, “full creative freedom” rests at the heart of the partnerships. In a press release, Hector Sanchez, Head of Epic Games Publishing, noted that “they will have full creative control, while Epic will provide a solid foundation of project funding and services.” By “project funding,” Sanchez means Epic is covering the costs of developer salaries, production, QA, marketing, and so on. Meanwhile, the developers own their intellectual properties and benefit from 50 percent of profits made.
What these teams are working on currently remains under wraps, but the video suggests all are next-gen in nature. This morning, Remedy teased that it has two projects in the works with a “major publisher.” Clearly, that publisher is Epic Games. The two titles are set to take place in the same franchise. One is currently in pre-production as a AAA project; the other will be smaller in scale. No further details are known at this time.
[Source: Epic Games Publishing via Game Informer]
