Boutique indie games publisher Raw Fury purchases the Kingdom intellectual property from its original creator, Thomas van den Berg (noio), for an undisclosed amount.
In 2015, indie game publisher Raw Fury signed and funded a little known gem called Kingdom. Its creator, Thomas van den Berg (noio), was the first developer to come on board our then-fledgling publishing brand. As of today, three Kingdom games have been released across multiple platforms with more than 4 million units moved to date. Not bad for a game whose original tagline was “Nothing lasts…”
Our partnership with Thomas effectively shaped how we collaborate with the developers we’re fortunate to call partners. It’s a proof point that how we operate works well and that, together, we can help build successful franchises with these incredibly talented teams.
Today, we’re announcing that we have purchased the Kingdom IP from Thomas. This was only made possible because Thomas has decided he’d like to move away from Kingdom in order to pursue new projects, as Raw Fury has no clauses in its agreement with developers that give us any rights to a developer’s IP (and we intend to keep it this way).
Thomas van den Berg, creator of Kingdom:
“The first pixels of Kingdom I put on digital paper around 2011, it’s been a long and interesting time working on something so dear to me. But now, I’d like to continue challenging myself and explore different kinds of projects. And whereas most Kingdoms don’t last long, the Kingdom series deserves to go on. For that, it’s great that Raw Fury has been so deeply involved in the game for so long, enabling them to take the series somewhere I never could. Two Crowns is evidence of that, it was thought out almost entirely by Gordon, with great success. I look forward to seeing what is next, and to become a Kingdom player myself.”
Jonas Antonsson, Chief Everything Officer and founder of Raw Fury:
“Kingdom means a lot to us both personally and as a company, it’s one of the cornerstones of our success and a testament to how we do things here. We usually work with small teams that are highly creative and, at some point, they may want to explore new things. We always want to support this, and we try our utmost to find a good way to both move games and franchises forward while making sure the developers have the freedom to delve into these endeavors. We love seeing them come up with some new magic whether it’s in collaboration with or independent from Raw Fury.”
Gordon Van Dyke, co-founder of Raw Fury, has been involved with the Kingdom series since the start by helping with the design and balance of the inaugural title, and eventually taking on the role of Game Director and Designer of Kingdom Two Crowns developed together with Coatsink. Gordon will now take the role as monarch of the entire series.
Gordon Van Dyke, co-founder of Raw Fury and newly crowned monarch of the Kingdom series:
“Without sounding too cheesy, Kingdom changed my life. Thomas has become like a brother to me and to have him hand over Kingdom is one of the greatest honors of my career. Protecting the careful crafting and diligence of the series, like we did with Kingdom Two Crowns, is just the start of the journey on how we plan to progress with the series. I’m still very much in love with Kingdom and have so many ideas to explore and build upon.”
The next update for Kingdom Two Crowns, which we’re calling Challenge Islands, will debut in late summer.
KINGDOM: NEW LANDS GIVEAWAY BEGINS JUNE 6TH!
To celebrate this next chapter for Kingdom and to give new players a chance to experience the series, we’re giving away Kingdom: New Lands for PC from June 6-12th on the Epic Game Store. https://www.epicgames.com/store/product/kingdom-new-lands/home
For more thoughts on the acquisition and Raw Fury’s philosophy on working with developers, read an in-depth blog post by Jonas Antonsson:
https://rawfury.com/raw-fury-buys-a-kingdom/.
For more information on the Kingdom series head over to:
www.kingdomthegame.com.
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