Yooka-Laylee Creator Establishes Publishing Studio, Already Signs Three Developers

Yooka-Laylee creator Playtonic Games has announced a new publishing label called Playtonic Friends that already houses three developers: Awe Interactive, Fabraz, and Okidokico.

Despite signing up three developers and ramping up its hiring efforts to staff Playtonic Friends, company CEO Gavin Price assured fans in a Eurogamer interview that the studio has "multiple" projects of its own in development "purely focused" on Playtonic's seminal IP, Yooka-Laylee.

"We're actually going to be increasing our development size, purely focused on achieving new games in the Yooka-Laylee universe," Price said. "For the first time in history there's multiple things on the go."

The three developers in question already have projects of their own out. Awe Interactive is the creator of the rhythm-action roguelike BPM: Bullets Per Minute. Fabraz, an indie developer and publisher of its own, made the twitch-based platformer Slime-san. Okidokico Entertainment Inc. developed the casual golfing simulator OK Golf. Details about what these three developers are working on under the Playtonic Friends label remains close to the chest. However, Price noted there's a chance that anyone under the publisher could work on Yooka-Laylee content.

"But as we're going to be working with great partners through the Playtonic Friends label, we may find some great people who can help us with content in the Yooka-Laylee universe as well," Price said.

Playtonic Games is set to go on a hiring spree for its publishing label, which Price clarified will be led and handled by separate staff. To start, Playtonic Games' internal executive producer Andy Wilson has moved over to Playtonic Friends alongside former Green Man Gaming executive Steph Darrah, who will serve as the publisher's business development manager.

Still, according to a GamesIndustry.biz interview, Price said the breakdown of Playtonic Games, now that it has Playtonic Friends, is to remain a developer first. Price wants Playtonic Friends' focus to be on helping and sustaining developers with "real potential."

"It's just about finding those games and developers with real potential, that want to do something long-term, and that we can help them... that's the important thing," Price told GamesIndustry.biz. "As an operation we're still going to be 90%, developer, 10% publisher, but with an eye on self-publishing in the future, we're going to have skills and expertise in-house to help other people. The net result is hopefully that more games not only come out, but they come out with more chance for the developer to be sustainable moving forward."