Former Annapurna Interactive staff – who departed the acclaimed video game publisher last September as part of a “mass exodus” – have reportedly established a new company and will be taking over indie label Private Division’s portfolio, which was sold by Take-Two last year.
Annapurna’s entire video game division – responsible for publishing the celebrated likes of Cocoon, Outer Wilds, and Sayonara Wild Hearts – departed the company late last year, reportedly following a dispute with owner Megan Ellison. At the time, there was suggestion all 25 former employees might reunite under a new name, Verset, which was originally intended to be an Annapurna Interactive spin-off before negotiations broke down.
And now, Bloomberg reports former Annapurna Interactive staff are indeed working together again, as part of a still-unnamed new company, which is said to have inherited the games and franchises of Private Division – the indie-focused label behind the likes of Kerbal Space Program 2 that was sold by Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive in November.
At the time, Take-Two said it had made the decision to sell the label so it could focus its resources on “growing our core and mobile businesses for the long-term”, and that the unnamed buyer had purchased the rights to “substantially all” of Private Division’s live and unreleased titles – with the exception of Moon Studios’ No Rest for the Wicked.