Starbreeze launches indie publishing division

The company behind the Payday franchise has expanded its publishing operations to handle smaller indie projects.

Starbreeze has launched 'IndieLabs' a label within its fledgling publishing operation that will target projects that are 'smaller in scope and investment'. The firm says studios will retain its IP entirely within the new initiative, and the sub-label will have the same 'start-up spirit' of the projects it intends to publish.

The first title the company will publish is arena battle game AntiSphere by Lion Game Lion, although no release date has been set. Starbreeze will retain 30 percent of the revenues from the game after distribution fees.

Starbreeze is the latest in a long list of developers and publishers - big and small - to invest in indie games publishing. This year alone, Take-Two, Sega, GameStop and EA have all launched indie publishing initiatives, which compete with the likes of Devolver Digital, Team17, 505 Games, Curve, Square Enix, Sierra and a whole lot more.

Indie developers have been increasingly turning to publishers for support, particularly as the likes of Steam and the App Store have become saturated with new projects, making discoverability more challenging. The services these publishers offer range from basic distribution, PR and marketing support, to full funding.

Starbreeze COO Mikael Nermark is handling the search for new indie projects at the company.