Video game publisher Annapurna Interactive began working with Swedish indie game developer Simogo last fall, but the two formalized their relationship Tuesday by inking a publishing contract.
The agreement will give Annapurna Interactive publishing rights to future Simogo titles. Simogo founders Simon Flesser and Magnus Gordon Gardebäck said in a blog post the partnership “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.”
Simogo is based in Malmö, Sweden. Its most recent game is “Sayonara Wild Hearts,” which its creators describe as “euphoric music video dream about being awesome, riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords, and breaking hearts at 200 mph.”
It’s essentially a bright, first-person action game where the player is a female martial artist battling her way through a city in what appears to be one of the most extreme commutes ever. The game’s unique style gained recognition, winning a DICE Award for Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game on Feb. 13.
Simogo released “Sayonara Wild Hearts” in September on multiple gaming platforms including mobile, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
West Hollywood-based Annapurna Interactive, the gaming division of Annapurna Pictures film studio, was launched in 2016. It is known for publishing acclaimed space survival title “The Outer Wilds” in May 2019 alongside game developer Mobius Digital. Annapurna Interactive prefers to develop indie games with unique storylines and visuals, so it makes sense the studio is tapping Simogo for future content.
Annapurna did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.