Why iam8bit is jumping into game publishing

gamedeveloper.com:

Creative production company iam8bit has become a more and more familiar name for game developers in the last few years. It's proven to be a reliable partner for both video game collectibles and event operations, having producedboth Day of the Devs showcases and Geoff Keighley's in-person Summer Game Fest event called "Play Days."

iam8bit wasn't just helping to run Summer Game Fest: Play Days, however. It was also showing off the first game in its new publishing label iam8bit Presents: Coin Crew Games' Escape Academy, a two-player co-op game that brings the in-person Escape Room experience to the digital world. 

Co-founders Jon Gibson and Amanda White told Game Developer that making Escape Academy the first game published by iam8bit Presents was a deliberate choice. While digital escape rooms are a still-burgeoning genre, the pair explained that they were motivated by how the game lined up with the rest of the company's portfolio: it brings people together to make the world "a happier place."

White and Gibson explained that the many arms of iam8bit work toward the same goal: creating emotional connections and relationships with people through events, products, and beyond. Gibson gestured to the Summer Game Fest space as an example of this mindset. We were chatting in a warehouse-ish environment that combined demo booths with open-air environments. 

It was one of the first events the company has done since the COVID-19 pandemic began. And the pandemic itself proved to be part of the impetus for getting into game publishing. "We were looking for ways to connect with other humans, and game publishing seemed like a very sort of organic expansion on what we were already doing," White said. 

She noted that the company already had