When it comes to publishers of indie titles,Devolver Digitalis a name generally held in high respect. Judging by the company’sDevolver Direct 2020, it’s clear that Devolver intends to continue bringing quality games to players.
These days, many players associate Devolver withFall Guysdue to its success. This is not the first horse Devolver has backed, however.Enter the Gungeonis another stand-out title, andSerious Sam 4marks the latest in a long tradition of Devolver publishingSerious Samtitles. While Devolver usually floats between indie developers, its history withSerious Samdeveloper Croteam has more history, and how the publisher has officially gone ahead and purchased Croteam.
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Croteam began as a small group of friends looking to get into the gaming business. The team started with sports titles, but eventually created a demo that would becomeSerious Sam. The only publisher that would touch an unproven game with astory as crazy as Serious Sam’swas Gathering of Developers. Many years later, members of this Gathering formed a new company: Devolver Digital. Bringing things full circle, Devolver was looking for a prominent title to publish and Croteam brought them a newSerious Samtitle, so after many years of working together Devolver has bought up Croteam.
Devolver Digital has promised Croteam “complete creative freedom” in its announcement. BeyondSerious Sam, Croteam is most well known forThe Talos Principle, and both IPs have their fans. Devolver’s name is typically a mark of quality, as games it publishes often do well and wind up crossing over with huge names, likeFall Guysrecently did withSonic the Hedgehog.
Parties from the companies joked about the situation, saying they have been “dating for so long that we decided to go ahead and just get married.” It’s a marriage that should benefit Croteam afterSerious Sam 4 didn’t get the best reviews. Obviously Devolver should have more of a say in what gets made and how, but odds are it will respect the developer’s creative decisions. In its official statement, Devolver said, “Croteam will of course keep total creative freedom and Devolver Digital gets to keep making dumb recommendations that Croteam just ignores - we prefer it that way.”
Odds are this will result in more titles coming from Croteam in the near future. There’s almost no danger ofDevolver Digitalrunning into trouble with a wealth of titles under its belt and a nose for great indie games to publish, and it seemsDevolver keeps on showing AAA publishers how its done.
