Amazon and Serenity Forge veterans announce new publisher Astra Logical

New indie publisher Astra Logical just emerged from stealth, led by managing director Heather Jackson, formerly at Amazon Games.

Jackson is joined by operations and finance manager Ryan Tagawa (previously marketing associate at Serenity Forge), head of marketing Laura Topakian (former senior marketing manager at Those Awesome Guys), and scout and developer relations manager Rachel Heleva (previously associate producer at Modus and producer at Astra Fund).

Astra Logical was described in the announcement as "an evolution" of philanthropic fund Astra Fund. The latter laid off an unknown number of employees at the end of December, having launched in April 2022.

When asked whether Astra Fund still existed alongside the newly established Astra Logical, a spokesperson said: "Astra Fund doesn't exist anymore, not as an entity nor as a separate branch. Astra Logical is the only entity, handling for-profit publishing only."

The new publisher is set to focus on "premium thinky games," with advisors including Eileen Hollinger (currently head of Capybara Games and originally part of Astra Fund's founding team) and indie games veteran Nick Suttner, most recently co-founder of Furniture & Mattress.

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