There are tons of gaming companies that range in size and scope from the big guns like Sony and Bethesda to the smaller groups like Super Giant or Double Fine. But in between all of this is one type of publisher who's been gaining popularity of late: Annapurna Interactive.
Annapurna was a film company founded in 2011 that worked on movies and television, contributing to things like distribution. This past December, a new branch of the company opened up called Annapurna Interactive. This branch of the company works on video game distribution, and its current lineup – while small – is already fascinating.
Annapurna had a presence at PAX East 2017, with a booth housing four wildly different games. What Remains of Edith Finch, the follow-up game from The Unfinished Swan developer Giant Sparrow is probably the most well known of Annapurna's current portfolio. This was followed by the breathtaking hand-drawn puzzle game Gorogoa, which while currently slated for PC and mobile, is something that I'd love to see on the PS4. Next up was the quirky and unexpectedly fun Donut County, which sees you playing as literally a hole in the ground that gets bigger as you suck up more of the objects around the town.
Finally was our game of the show for PAX East 2017: The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti – a platforming, rhythm based game that is analogous to David Bowie going on a quest to search for his identity as Ziggy Stardust.
For having only been a publisher for a few months, Annapurna has an incredible lineup of games, all of which are exciting and of note for wildly different reasons. The team should be applauded for assembling such an interesting variety of titles, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for the label.
Graham's really excited about the future of Annapurna Interactive, but do you share his enthusiasm? Get giddy in the comments section below.
Comments 7
I think I read that Annapurna Interactive is headed up by the people who were doing all the XDev stuff at Sony Santa Monica, so I'm not surprised.
Just a shame that Sony seems to be slowly abandoning that aspect of its business really.
What Remains has been on my radar for some time now. Looks like I'll be adding to my watch list.
Distribution of tv and movies huh? Maybe there can be some overlap with Sony Pictures. Need that hole plugging up.
But its a good portfolio right now. But hey it could fall down too, who knows. But right now it looks like hot unqiue stuff.
@get2sammyb Huh, I did not know that. That explains the type of games they've targeted thus far! The XDev stuff hit on a lot of games I would personally want, and Annapurna seems no different!
@get2sammyb Yeah I'm a bit concerned with this, I don't think Sony should exclusively be making AAA games because you never know when the next small studio will become big and you want an exclusive from them. It's also what adds to PlayStation's diversity.
@get2sammyb Yeah now it seems playstation not interested in indie games anymore, maybe at this point on ps4 life time indies is not too big of a deal anymore compared to AAA exclusive/console-exclusive like horizon, persona, nioh, nier automata, etc.
Are these the guys that also make pet food? Anyway, Sony are being complete d bags if they keep sacking off studios and stop making uniquely stupid games. May as well in the end just buy a PC and plug in your Dualshock. I was gonna buy Hyper Light Drifter in the sale but I'm not because I want to play it on a handheld. If Nintendo sticks all the indies on the Switch I think that's where people will go to play them.
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