Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic has announced its first steps into the game publishing world, and has set up a new division, Playtonic Friends, to see those deals forward.
“We’re making it our mission to bring interesting games that tickle our fancy to the surface and get the love and attention they deserve,” explains a post from Playtonic. “We’ve been digging around and speaking with developers from all over the world and there’s a massive wad of fantastic projects brimming with potential.”
“We’re keen to help talented studios focus on game development, while our newly formed publishing team handle the other bits.”
The Playtonic team shares in that FAQ that they’ve already spoken with a number of developers already, but are still interested in speaking with developers about publishing opportunities.
Playtonic, founded by ex Rare developers in 2014, is notably the studio behind the Banjo Kazooie inspired Yooka-Laylee and its 2019 sequel Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. The studio notes in an FAQ that its publishing work doesn’t mean it’s backing away from game development and that it still has some unannounced projects on the way.
The FAQ doesn’t mention if this means Playtonic will self-publish in the future–both Yooka-Laylee games were published by Team17–but a separate interview with GamesIndustry notes self-publishing as something it certainly has their eye on.