Epic Games Publishing has announced two new studio partners: Spry Fox (Cozy Grove) and Eyes Out (the new studio from Spec Ops: The Line creative director Cory Davis, and Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck).
Announced today, Epic says that the partnerships should "empower developers of all sizes to take chances and create their most ambitious dreams." It follows Epic's partnerships with Remedy (which recently released Alan Wake Remastered and is rumoured to be working on Alan Wake 2), Inside developer Playdead, and genDESIGN (headed by Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and Last Guardian creator Fumito Ueda).
Spry Fox's new game is described as its biggest ever, a "multiplatform nonviolent persistent multiplayer title". Spry Fox previously made Cozy Grove, a game we described as Animal Crossing with more story, and less capitalism. The announcement came alongside new (and lovely) concept art for the game:
We had previously heard about Eyes Out's first game, described as a single-player, immersive cosmic horror game with an emphasis on environmental storytelling. Epic says that it gave a grant to Eyes Out to create a prototype, and that's been subsequently extended to a full partnership.
Both new games will be built in Epic's Unreal Engine. As with previous partnerships, Epic promises "full creative freedom, complete IP ownership, and favorable financial terms."
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