Developer Simogo worked with publisher Annapurna Interactive on its most recent and widely celebrated release, Sayonara Wild Hearts. Now the two companies have made their partnership even more official. Simogo has signed a multi-year deal with Annapurna, meaning the studio’s future endeavors will all be published by that particular label.
Joining Annapurna Interactive represents a big change for the Malmö, Sweden-based studio. However, a blog post from co-founders Simon Flesser and Gordon Gardebäck promises they will remain “independent good old Simogo.” Still, one significant difference involves the studio’s now getting to create things that were previously off the table. Another change will take shape in Simogo’s business operations. In the blog post, Simon and Gordon elaborated further, noting, “it also means that we can work even more regularly with the composers and artists we already love to work with.”
Near the bottom of their letter to fans, the duo seems to offer a brief hint about Simogo’s next project. The apparent tease reads as follows: “Now, if you excuse us, we must get back to working on our next game; Project Fuzzy Optics.” It’s anyone’s guess what they could have up their sleeves next.
Here’s the letter in full:
Darlings. We have some very big news. After having worked together with our good friends at Annapurna Interactive on Sayonara Wild Hearts for quite some time, we realized that we really enjoyed making games together. So, we have agreed to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
We’re still going to be independent good old Simogo here in Malmö, but just with a little more possibilities, and less compromises. It’s maybe a bit like getting married, we suppose. You dig eachother, so you might as well make it official. A promise to help out eachother to make more magic happen.
It means that future Simogo projects will be published by Annapurna Interactive, and it means that we can do things that aren’t possible for us to make by ourselves. It also means that we can work even more regularly with the composers and artists we already love to work with. It could, to sum it up, mean a lot of new fun and unexpected stuff for us, and you, in the future. It’s going to be wild and wonderful, and we hope you’ll be here to take the journey with us.
Now, if you excuse us, we must get back to working on our next game;
Project Fuzzy Optics.Love,
Simon & Gordon
Though it may seem as if the music-based action title came out of nowhere, Sayonara Wild Hearts is not Simogo’s first rodeo. The studio has produced a number of other games in the past, including the App Store thriller DEVICE 6, Wii U’s Year Walk, and iOS puzzle game Beat Sneak Bandit.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is out now on the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Xbox One platforms.
