Vampire Survivors studio expands into game publishing

Vampire Survivors became an instant hit when it launched in 2022, in part due to its low asking price. Subsequently, many owners have supported the game's DLC releases. Now, the company behind Vampire Survivors has made enough that they can open up a games publishing arm. 

Poncle, the company behind Vampire Survivors, confirmed plans to start striking game publishing deals. As reported by GI.biz, the Poncle team was pitching the new publishing arm to investors at an industry event in the UK this week.

There are some stipulations – Poncle doesn't just want to snap up IP or operate as a ‘traditional' publisher. Instead, the company is targeting independent games developed with “sincerity, passion and depth”. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Poncle also doesn't want to support any free-to-play mobile games or anything related to Web3 or AI.

Poncle hasn't announced its first game publishing deal yet, but something should fall into place in 2025. I expect they'll get to meet a lot of developers at GDC in March. In the meantime, work on Vampire Survivors continues, with the most recent DLC having dropped back in May – a Contra crossover DLC with new maps and characters.

KitGuru Says: Poncle deserves all the success it has had from Vampire Survivors so far. Hopefully as part of the publishing world, the company can help a similarly experimental and fun game reach the market. 

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