Yep, you read that right. Gothenburg-based game studios Image & Form and Zoink announced they are making a joint effort around self-publishing. While the two companies will continue to develop their own games separately, the very successful self-publishing team from Image & Form will take sole responsibility for the PR, marketing, and publishing for both studios.
“Zoink has created many successful IPs and creative games for others,” says Zoink’s CEO Klaus Lyngeled, “but we’ve always worked through other publishers. Now it’s time to take ownership of our coming titles and sell directly to our customers. The collaboration with Image & Form means we can lift the studio to new levels.” Zoink has worked with industry leaders like Google, Cartoon Network, and Disney, and it’s latest game Stick it to the Man! released on numerous platforms and downloaded over 1.3 million times - and it’s not even a mobile game.
In comparison, Image & Form put itself on the map with its indie hit SteamWorld Dig. One of the key movers and shakers behind this collaborative effort is its CEO, Brjann Sigurgeirsson. Like Lyngeled, Sigurgeirsson is excited about what the upcoming partnership holds, “We’ve been virtually unknown to the game audience, but now we’ve been able to develop and market bigger, deeper games. I look forward to working with Zoink and push their wonderful games as well. Together, we’ll be a real powerhouse - two great studios with separate visions and common goals.”
This kind of joint-publishing set up has been done before, most notably by Gathering of Developers in the early 2000’s. “By keeping it local and small, we won’t have to become a publisher that spreads too thin,” says Sigurgeirsson.“We’ll have time and resources to focus on every release from both studios.”
With the advent of the modern marketplace, like Steam, the Nintendo eShop, and the App Store, self-publishers and indie developers have been able to get a leg up on established businesses. “Earlier we’ve worked dedicated publishers in order to minimize the economic risks of every release,” Lyngeled notes. “While safe, this also means that we’ve had to give up IP rights, revenue shares and means to influence marketing efforts. Our new sister studio Image & Form have self-published for a good while now, and they’re doing a great job at it. We’ll work closely with them so that more people find and play our games.”
For more details, you can check out Image & Forms’ blogpost.
It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of both studios in the future, since they produce excellent content on their own. We hope to see them succeed in their new project.
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