Annapurna Interactive Has Quickly Become A Premier Publisher

[Wozman23]

Less than two years ago, Annapurna Interactive was an unknown. When their debut game What Remains of Edith Finch launched in April 2017, I had no clue who they were as a publisher, but I instantly took notice. Cobbled together with industry veterans and quality developers - many of which flocked there after Sony abandoned and quietly dissolved their own indie branch - Annapurna knocked it out the park with a game that was unique, creative, and universally praised. Later, at the tail end of 2017, their sophomore release Gorogoa did much of the same. With 2018 came Florence and Donut County, two distinctly different titles that also garnered much praise. And yesterday not only was Ashen shadow dropped, but new promising, original games were revealed with Sayonara Wild Hearts, a Switch exclusive from Simogo, and The Pathless, from Giant Squid, the creators of ABZÛ. Between those announcements and the games already incoming like Wattam, The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti, Outer Wilds, and Due Process, the future looks bright for the publisher. Plus, on top of all that, they're releasing Journey on PC!

They've been a godsend for unique and experimental indies. I cant wait to try almost everything they're putting out, and I love every time I see their logo kick off a trailer because I know I'm going to get something of high quality that gives me an experience that I've never had in my 30+ years of gaming. That's incredibly refreshing!

They deserve far more recognition, praise, and respect for what they've so quickly accomplished!

Sayonara Wild Hearts



A euphoric music video dream about being awesome, riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords and breaking hearts at 200mph.


The Pathless



A mythic adventure game about an archer and an eagle in a vast forest.​

 

[DGenerator]

They've become the A24 of gaming, that's for sure.

 

[Time Loop]

Yes, started keeping track of them because of Edith Finch (silly me, before playing I though it's new Everybody Gone To Rapture!), and Gorogoa sealed the deal for me. I will buy all their games eventually I think.

 

[daybreak]

Geoff Keighley's relationship with Kojima has ended. Annapurna Interactive is his best friend, now.

 

[funky]

They are basically Sony's old ps3 indie division and it shows.


They where responsible for finding a lot of amazing experiences last gen and doing that but multiplatform has been a great thing to see.

 

[JehutyRunner]

They've become the A24 of gaming, that's for sure.

Click to shrink...

Annapurna Interactive has become the Annapurna Pictures of gaming.

They are basically Sony's pls indie division and it shows.


They where responsible for finding a lot of amazing experiences last gen and doing that but multiplatform has been a great thing to see.

Click to shrink...

Not a surprise considering a good portion of the team at Annapurna are former higher ups at the old external division of Sony Santa Monica.

 

[MegaSackman]

It's my favourite indie publisher, it's incredible how good they got in such short time.

 

[kami_sama]

Man, Sayonara Wild Hearts looks (and sounds) so good.
Reminds me a lot of NMH, but with pop music.

 

[More_Badass]

They're also publishing the sequel/successor to Her Story, Telling Lies

 

[OniluapL]

They are my favorite indie publisher, for sure. I played almost everything they released so far (Gorogoa, Edith Finch, Florence).

Spoiler

Shame they are now releasing only on the Epic Store on PC, apparently.

 

[j0hnniX]

Ashen is pretty darn good too. Published by them.

 

[Wozman23]

I really hope they reach out to Jessica Mak - who transitioned from Jonathan Mak of Sound Shapes and Everyday Shooter fame - since they have that former Sony relationship as well. I adored the games from Queasy, so I'm really excited to see what comes of this odd, glitchy, 80s-feeling mess that Jessica has been teasing.

When James from FuturLab was bluntly discussing the multiple attempts to greenlight a sequel to Velocity 2X, I asked if he'd pitched to Annapurna. This is the response I got:



No if we can just get a publisher solely focused on FuturLab and Housemarque arcade games, I'd be in heaven.

 

[SuikerBrood]

I was really positive about Annapurna, but after the Ashen fiasco, nah. I'll pass for now.

 

[danhz]

Annapurna and Devolver have my respect, they release good indie games.

 

[FelipeMGM]

Not really surprising, since they are basically the spiritual successor of the external publishing arm of Sony Santa Monica, a lot of the same people involved

They had an incredible show yesterday. A lot of people keep talking about how God of War and RDR2 were the big winners of the night, but I feel like Annapurna and EPIC Games Store were the ones that had the best night overall

 

[Ge0force]

Annapurna lost my respect already after their exclusivity deals with Epic. Keep those shitty practices away from pc gaming please.

 

[janusff]

yeah they're great. remind me of the games sony published earlier in the gen.

Not really surprising, since they are basically the people that were involved in the external publishing arm of Sony Santa Monica

Click to shrink...

ahhhh. that makes sense. no wonder.

 

[Deleted member 6235]

They're also publishing the new game from Fullbright and the sequel to Her Story.

Yeah, they're pretty good. <3

 

[Sabretooth]

This was my take from the day as well. They had an insane showing.

 

[Edge]

It feels like every second announcement is with Annapurna in the last 12 months.

Quality instead of quantity. (In general, but most are good so far, to be honest)

 

[FreDre]

I'm surprised that Megan Ellison is still pushing forward her company after the financial mess that is her film production division.
I thought her dad was going to shut it down.

 

[Odesu]

It feels like every second announcement is with Annapurna in the last 12 months.

Quality instead of quantity. (In general, but most are good so far, to be honest)

Click to shrink...

That's an understatement if I ever heard one. Annapurna is probably the most consistent publisher with the reliably most creative, amazing games operating today. These are the games they released so far:

What Remains of Edith Finch
Gorogoa
Florence
Donut Gounty
Ashen

As OP stated the titles they announced also look incredibly interesting and different, let's not forget The Artful Escape and Wattam

They also published ports for
Flower
Kentucky Route Zero
Gone Home
and the future PC port of Journey.

That's an INSANE list of games. The second I see a game being published by Annapurna these days, I know to check it out. It just seems to me Megan Ellison has her familiy's billions and she could just moneyhat Fortnite clone after Fortnite clone but instead they are going the route of supporting small indie projects that could easily get lost in the shuffle.

 

[Zukkoyaki]

I still need to play Edith Finch... and Florence... and Donut County...

 

[Sabot]

My eyes perk up when I see their name attached to a project nowadays, usually means it's gonna look striking and cool.

 

[Odesu]

I still need to play Edith Finch... and Florence... and Donut County...

Click to shrink...

Don't think about it, just do it :) They are all really short, ranging from under an hour to 2 hours and are all amazing in their very own way.

 

[TaleSpun]

They've become the A24 of gaming, that's for sure.

Click to shrink...

This us exactly how I've been thinking of them, yeah.

Which is kinda funny since Annapurna puts out films themselves. They're no A24, but they have like three really good looking films out this month, so they might be getting there.

 

[newmoneytrash]

Everyone should play Florence

 

[Veidt]

They've certainly built an impressive portfolio in a very short period. Quite curious to see where they go from here; Outer Wilds is looking pretty great.

 

[Complicated]

It's such a great thing to see. They're putting out hits and winning awards. The name is cool and fun to say too.

 

[Edge]

That's an understatement if I ever heard one. Annapurna is probably the most consistent publisher with the reliably most creative, amazing games operating today. These are the games they released so far:

What Remains of Edith Finch
Gorogoa
Florence
Donut Gounty
Ashen

As OP stated the titles they announced also look incredibly interesting and different, let's not forget The Artful Escape and Wattam

They also published ports for
Flower
Kentucky Route Zero
Gone Home
and the future PC port of Journey.

That's an INSANE list of games. The second I see a game being published by Annapurna these days, I know to check it out. It just seems to me Megan Ellison has her familiy's billions and she could just moneyhat Fortnite clone after Fortnite clone but instead they are going the route of supporting small indie projects that could easily get lost in the shuffle.

Click to shrink...

Interesting, thanks.
Still have a lot to catch up.

And yes, I can just agree to the bold part. If you look at it like this, it's quite impressive and really good that they exist.[/

 

[Falchion]

Yeah a ton of their stuff looks great and I'm especially excited about The Pathless.

 

[bobbychalkers]

All I know is that I want Sayonara Wild Hearts injected into my veins right now

 

[Wouwie]

Not surprising since they seem to originate from what used to be Sony's most interesting team by far, Sony Santa Monica's external development team (as a Playstation gamer, i'm still sad about the fact that they disbanded that team...). That being said, i wish Annapurna would release their games on all platforms. Instead, they seem to go for (timed) platform exclusives for most of their games but maybe that's what it takes for smaller indie publishers to survive...?

 

[kodax_shc]

Super excited for Sayonara and the Pathless looks incredible as well.

 

[Overflow]

So in for Sayonara. I was like "WHO IS ANNAPURNA?!" when the announcements kept coming.

 

[thediamondage]

They certainly publish interesting titles but are they managing their money? It feels like a place that is spending a lot of money and may not be making it back very well,but thats just my impression based on how much critics love their games but I never see anyone on my friends list actually play or even own most of the games. The only way I've gotten any of their games is basically for free via game pass, PS+, etc I've never actually paid a dollar for any of their games.

 

[FreDre]

They certainly publish interesting titles but are they managing their money? It feels like a place that is spending a lot of money and may not be making it back very well,but thats just my impression based on how much critics love their games but I never see anyone on my friends list actually play or even own most of the games. The only way I've gotten any of their games is basically for free via game pass, PS+, etc I've never actually paid a dollar for any of their games.

Click to shrink...

Annapurna Pictures lost a lot of key people due to the direction of the company made by Megan Ellison, daughter's of Larry Ellison (owner of Oracle).
That division and Annapurna Interactive are all being funded with the help of her father, and there's a restructure of her business going on due to recent box office bombs.
They are bleeding money, big time.

You can read more here:
https://www.vulture.com/2018/10/whats-going-on-at-annapurna-pictures.html

 

[Deleted member 19996]

If it wasn't for Ashen, I would have never heard of them. I haven't heard of any of those other games, but may check them out.

 

[manustany]

Yup, solid publisher! Also, Donut County is coming to Switch and Xbox One on December 18th!

 

[SmashN'Grab]

They've got an interesting take on how they want to manage their portfolio. In the indie space they make a nice counterpoint to the likes of Devolver (who I also think have a consistent idea of who they want to be).

I do wonder how they'd fare without the billionaire Larry Ellison element, though.

 

[kiguel182]

I had no idea this was made by the old Sony indie team. That explains it since Sony was amazing at picking out indie titles.

They have definetly hit it out of the park. Love Edith Finch, Garogoa and Florence. Still need to play Donut County!

Their next batch of titles seems pretty awesome. Definetly a publisher I associate with quality

 

[Caspar]

I'm surprised that Megan Ellison is still pushing forward her company after the financial mess that is her film production division.
I thought her dad was going to shut it down.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I hope she can sort out the movie side, it'll be sad if it has to shut down.

As for the games division I have no idea how independent it is from the film company and how much Megan is involved. Hopefully not that much.

6 hours into Ashen by the way and it's close to beating Edith Finch as my favourite Annapurna release so far. Shame all the Epic store stuff is distracting from its quality.

 

[Deleted member 18951]

I've been saying this for a while, they really are the best publisher out there right now.

 

[lwkmd]

they're the publisher i would want to be

 

[Deleted member 15538]

I'd be surprised if they can last a few years but I'll take that Abzu "sequel" if reviews are aight.

 

[samred]

Really looking forward to Wattam's launch in 2023. (Seriously, I don't think it's ever coming out.)

 

[peppersky]

Annapurna Pictures lost a lot of key people due to the direction of the company made by Megan Ellison, daughter's of Larry Ellison (owner of Oracle).
That division and Annapurna Interactive are all being funded with the help of her father, and there's a restructure of her business going on due to recent box office bombs.

Click to shrink...

That really puts their work into perspective then. It's a shame since I really wish we'd live in a world where a publisher like Annapurna could exist on its own.

 

[BBboy20]

Annapurna Pictures lost a lot of key people due to the direction of the company made by Megan Ellison, daughter's of Larry Ellison (owner of Oracle).
That division and Annapurna Interactive are all being funded with the help of her father, and there's a restructure of her business going on due to recent box office bombs.
They are bleeding money, big time.

You can read more here:
https://www.vulture.com/2018/10/whats-going-on-at-annapurna-pictures.html

Click to shrink...

...this may explain the shady Epic deals.

 

[Odesu]

We have no reason to believe that Annapurna Interactive is doing badly, really. They are supporting way smaller projects than Annapurna Pictures and have a lot of successes on their hand. Plus they are publishing a lot of games that are already mostly or completely done when they step in, see Edith Finch, Gone Home, Kentucky Route Zero, Journey etc