Devolver launches Big Fan Games, a publishing label dedicated to movie, TV and comic book adaptations
Devolver Digital has formed a new games publishing label devoted to indie games that are based on movie, TV, comic book and other entertainment IP.
The new label is made up of the Good Shepherd team, which Devolver acquired back in 2021. Good Shepherd had already published indie games based on other brands, namely 2019's John Wick Hex (by Bithell Games) and 2023's Hellboy Web of the Wyrd (by Upstream Games), and this will now be the team's focus going forward.
Big Fan Games will be led by general manager Lincoln Hershberger, who is a video game veteran of 27 years, with senior roles at Westwood Studios, EA and Twitch, before joining the team last year.
He's joined by head of business development Amanda Kruse. Kruse had been part of the Good Shepherd team since 2019, and comes from the world of TV and movies, having worked on the likes of Hunger Games, Twilight and LaLa Land. She's best known in the video games space for forming and running Lionsgate's games division.
"I love adaptation," Kruse told GamesIndustry.biz. "So when we were trying to figure out what we specialise in... we are part of Devolver now, but we don't want to be Devolver 2. Nobody can be. They're so cool and original. How can we separate ourselves? So I was excited to pitch 'let's do adaptations.' Because that is what is exciting for us and most of our team."
Hershberger added: "Nigel [Lowrie, Devolver co-founder] was interested in fan-favourite IP like Monkey Island [Devolver published Return to Monkey Island in 2022], and that gave him the excitement that this could be a separate label. It doesn't fully fit with Devolver, which as you know is a curator of great, original indie games. So with Amanda on-board, and with Nigel's interest, it was a case of 'let's make something out of this'. Then I joined the team. I have a background at Electronic Arts, and I started at Westwood Studios, and have worked on things like Dune, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. So collectively, we have a lot of
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