Playtonic Games, the studio behind Kickstarter success Yooka-Laylee, has announced a new publisher label. It’s called Playtonic Friends and three studios have already signed up for their next projects.
At the same time, and after a quiet 2020, Playtonic is reassuring fans that it remains committed to its own game development. Playtonic now has “multiple” games featuring Yooka-Laylee characters in the works and is further expanding its staff to expand its production capabilities.
We spoke with Playtonic boss Gavin Price about these new announcements and the upcoming games – you can read all of that below. Before then, here’s a video featuring Price, composer Grant Kirkhope and character art director Steve Mayles rummaging around with today’s headlines:
The first three developers to sign up with the Playtonic Friends label include Awe Interactive, creator of rhythm action roguelike BPM: Bullets Per Minute, Slime-san studio Fabraz, and OK Golf maker okidokico. Details of their upcoming projects are kept secret.
Likewise, details of the next few games featuring Yooka-Laylee characters will also be kept quiet – although Playtonic is sure they will please and hopefully surprise fans of the studio.
“About a year ago, when Impossible Lair was launched, there was an opportunity to think and say, ‘Hey, how are our games going, how are our processes going, what do we want to do with our own IP?’ company to think, what else can we do? ”Price told me this week via video call.
“We like to see great games come out and succeed. We don’t like to see great games come out and not get the attention or love or the commercial success they deserve. Unfortunately, that’s too general a story in the world. industry.
“We thought, well, if we can help bring great games out and get attention and have that better chance, now that developers have given this long-term sustainability, everyone wins … We always have people to us Come on for advice, but one of the benefits of being old is having all this experience. We have experience in being first-party, being independent, with crowdfunding. We have a lot to share. “
The pitch for Playtonic Friends is simple: you get publishing advice and know-how from a team that is still a developer at heart, rather than another company that may just exist as a publisher. And – coming back to Playtonic’s own games – studios working with Playtonic under the Friends label can help create new Yooka-Laylee games in the future.
“There is no impediment to the types of games and people we have started helping,” said Price. “It would be arbitrary to say ‘we can’t help you because your game doesn’t have a million different collectibles.’ There are companies we’ll be partnering with and games we’ll be announcing that will make people go, ‘woah, how are we like this? a chameleon and a bat come here? ‘
“But as we’re going to work with great partners through the Playtonic Friends label, we might also find great people who can help us with content in the Yooka-Laylee universe.”
While Price helps announce Playtonic Friends, the studio is keen to make it clear that the venture will be handled by a different team – and that it is now looking to recruit even more people for its core focus on development. Playtonic Friends, meanwhile, will be hosted by Andy Wilson, long-time executive producer of Playtonic – who Gavin calls “Mr. Spreadsheet” – and Steph Darrah, the biz developer’s new boss.
“We’re actually going to increase our development scope, purely focused on realizing new games in the Yooka-Laylee universe,” assures Price, saying Playtonic’s focus remains game development. “For the first time in history, several things are on the way.”
What things am I asking? Fans, of course, were intrigued by the studio’s sixth birthday celebration earlier this week, with Yooka and Laylee still taking center stage. And then there’s that funny nod to a Capital Bee game in the video above …
“There are always things I would say are a natural crowd puller for our fans, but it would also be great to surprise them with something unexpected,” Price hinted.
“A game we’re thinking of doing, we think, wow, this game would be great to have announced two years before launch and within those two years there’s actually room to keep a lot of cool surprises within those two years The fact that it may have been known for a while may add up.
“And then there’s another game that’s like ‘wow, it would be great if we just couldn’t say anything, then hit a start button one day … tada!’ It can backfire spectacularly, you never know. “