Joining Gunbrella, Serious Sam, Reigns, Stronghold and Enter the Gungeon studios in the publisher’s growing line-up of in-house devs
(Formerly) indie developers System Era, known for planet-exploring space sandboxAstroneer, have been acquired by Devolver Digital, known for putting out that offbeat indie game you like, probably.
Devolver announced the dealin typical Devolver fashion, lamenting the fact they passed on publishing Astroneer eight years ago and plan to make up for it by enveloping the Seattle studio into its growing line-up of first-party devs. (They also put out a cute video where the Astroneer devfloats around to the thumping tune of Hydrogen’s Moonfrom theHotline MiamiOST before finding their way into the publisher’s roster of characters.)
“We don’t shed independence lightly,” the team added in an acknowledgement that sounds especially poignant in a year ofmulti-billion-dollar acquisitionsandmass layoffs and closuresof formerly independent studios. “But with Devolver, we don’t think System Era is losing independence, we think it’s finding a home among a like-minded confederation of talented people, under a banner that is synonymous with the indie ethos, and we can’t wait to continue our journey, together.”
Devolver, for its part, promised that “the System Era fans know and love will continue doing what they do best: making cool video games”, saying that some of the team have “already been working on something new and exciting” while the rest of the studio continues to support Astroneer.
