Vampire Survivors developer Poncle is expanding in a major way, opening two new offices in Japan and Italy. On top of that, it’s working on 15 projects, some of them original works while others are IP collaborations.
Speaking to The Game Business, Poncle chief strategy officer Matteo Sapio revealed during last week’s London Games Festival that Vampire Survivors had passed 27 million players. Taking this momentum, the studio is expanding its scope drastically.
For one, Sapio confirmed that of the 15 new projects in the works (plus others in very early stages of development), two of them are two “entirely new properties”. In addition, new Survivors-style projects are being created in other universes. Some of these are being handled entirely by Poncle, while others are being made in collaboration with other studios.
In addition, the company has paused its third-party publishing plans. This comes after releasing Kill the Brickman and Beserk or Die under the Poncle Presents label. Sapio explained: “It was a learning experience […] We did publishing because we wanted to give back to the community, and to release games that maybe no-one else was able to release. Berserk or Die is a game that you play [by bashing] a keyboard. It was very strange. We wanted to help. But we found that we weren’t able to give the right support. We didn’t do the best for this game. So, we’ve paused a little bit. At the moment, profit is not a priority. We’re trying to build a community. And we will continue to do publishing in the future. “
As for those new studios, it marks a big step for the UK-based company. According to Sapio, Poncle received interest from Japanese studios, but “the Japanese like to deal with Japanese companies, in Japanese and with a Japanese contract.” In addition, there’s ample talent in both Japan and Italy, further pushing Poncle to establish themselves in these regions.
Are you excited for a future with more Poncle? Given the successful release of Warhammer Survivors, it’s clear to see the bullet heaven genre has plenty of room to grow.
An earlier version of this article stated that Poncle was working on 15 new games, not projects. Eurogamer apologises for this error.