French studio DONTNOD Entertainment has carved a name for itself in the action/adventure genre with games like Life is Strange, Vampyr, Remember Me, and the most recent releases Tell Me Why and Twin Mirror.
Whereas historically DONTNOD had to rely on a publisher, though, the recent €30 million investment from Tencent allowed the company to move towards a self-publishing model.
In a report issued to investors just yesterday, DONTNOD management confirmed to be working on five self-published games that will be released between 2022 and 2025; that’s in addition to another game that will be published by Focus Home Interactive.
The report goes on to mention other significant steps in the company’s plan, including an expansion towards Asian countries and mobile devices.
DONTNOD is therefore perfectly placed to ramp up its development plan aimed at capturing more value generated from its original creations by self-publishing more games and extending the reach of its catalog to mobile platforms in Asia. The entire pipeline has thus been enhanced with new self-published IP in line with the positive industry trends in favor of creators of high-quality original games that gain international recognition, such as DONTNOD.
Against this backdrop, following the creation of the new publishing and marketing departments to promote game releases, in early 2021 DONTNOD joined SELL (Syndicat des Editeurs de Logiciels de Loisirs), which brings together the leading video game publishers in France. This new milestone is a reflection of the studio’s desire to contribute towards the development of a sector with significant international reach that is a strong driving force for the French economy.
Moreover, the quality of the games developed by the studio have once again been recognized. The narrative adventure TELL ME WHYTM, the first collaboration with Microsoft, won the “Best message-bearer game” and “Best narrative design” awards at the Pégases 2021 awards. These awards further support the commercial development of this new original creation.
Financially, the report is also very positive, with royalties up 83% in 2020 and operating revenues are up 31% in the same timeframe.
