Owlcat Games moves into games publishing, acquires META Publishing

First two published titles announced.

Owlcat Games, the development studio behind titles such as Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, and Pathfinder: Kingmaker, has announced its move into the games publishing space.

Alongside its existing development efforts, Owlcat Games will now focus on helping independent studios introduce their own RPGs and narrative-driven games to players worldwide.

“We would like to work with teams that share our passion for telling captivating stories through narrative-driven games,” said Owlcat Games head of publishing Andrey Tsvetkov in a press release. “These might not fall entirely into the RPG genre, but they will definitely have a solid focus on story, characters, and worldbuilding. We have already walked the path of creating our dream game, and now we have the expertise and resources to guide other teams to the games of their dreams as well.”

After reviewing over 50 projects, Owlcat Games has signed agreements to publish its first two titles: Rue Valley from Serbia-based Emotion Spark Studio, and Shadow of the Road from Poland-based Another Angle Games.

Here is an overview of each game, via Owlcat Games:

Rue Valley – Emotion Spark Studio is working on a narrative RPG called Rue Valley. It is a story about a man trapped in a mysterious time loop during a psychotherapy session. Dealing with mental challenges, the main character must rise from the depths, delving into the anomaly to uncover its enigmatic origins.
Shadow of the Road – Another Angle Games is creating an isometric RPG in an alternate history setting of feudal Japan called Shadow of the Road. It is an immersive story about samurai, honor, and allegiance, combined with a deep tactical turn-based combat system in a world filled with magical yokai and deadly steampunk technology.

Both games are still in early development, with more information to be announced at Gamescom 2024, which will run from August 21 to 25 at Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany.

In addition to its own publishing efforts, Owlcat Games has also acquired META Publishing, which published Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. META Publishing will continue to follow its own strategy and focus on gameplay-first titles with cooperative multiplayer features. New titles from the label are also planned to exhibit Gamescom 2024, including Biped 2 and Nested Lands.