Publisher Lyrical Games to work with devs "taking big creative risks"

• Lyrical Games will work with ambitious games taking "substantial swings".
• Former key members at Private Division, Humble Games and Devolver Digital have founded the company.

New publisher Lyrical Games has launched to work with medium-sized developers "taking big creative risks and substantial swings".

The startup is headed by Private Division veteran Blake Rochkind, who founded the company alongside key former members of indie publishers Humble Games and Devolver Digital. The team is already working with three studios and has plans to sign more soon.

Among those studios is Canadian games maker Blackbird Interactive, known for Minecraft Legends, Project Eagle and multiple Homeworld titles. Blackbird is now working on a new project to be published by Lyrical Games.

Contrary to a "risk-averse" industry

"Everyone who cares about games, from the people who make them to the people who play them, has been affected by an increasingly risk-averse industry," Lyrical Games said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).

"The biggest publishers are consolidating around existing cash cows, while smaller labels pivot to ever-shrinking budgets. We work with the teams in between. Developers taking big creative risks and substantial swings. Some of the best games released in recent years have had that kind of ambition, and we know there’s room for more."

Rochkind added on LinkedIn: "I have always believed that exceptional games can break through in a way that's beyond anything comparable in entertainment. That is what Lyrical Games is all about."

Humble Games faced layoffs in 2024 but later partnered with those ex-staff at Good Games Group, allowing former employees to continue working on games.