Annapurna Games, LLC (
trade name
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name ...
: Annapurna Interactive) is an American
video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer.
They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...
. The company is a division of
Annapurna Pictures
Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through ...
, and was founded in 2016. Notable games released by the company include ''
Donut County
''Donut County'' is an indie video game developed by American indie designer Ben Esposito and published by Annapurna Interactive. In the game, the player moves a hole to swallow objects, which makes the hole increase in size. The concept origina ...
'', ''
Kentucky Route Zero
''Kentucky Route Zero'' is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Cardboard Computer and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was first revealed in 2011 via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and is separated into five acts tha ...
'', ''
Outer Wilds
''Outer Wilds'' is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Mobius Digital and published by Annapurna Interactive. It first released for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 before releasing for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2022. A Nin ...
'', ''
Sayonara Wild Hearts
''Sayonara Wild Hearts'' is a music-based action game created by Swedish developer Simogo and published by Annapurna Interactive. Described as a "pop album video game", ''Sayonara Wild Hearts'' follows the story of a heartbroken young woman thr ...
'', ''
Wattam'', ''
What Remains of Edith Finch
''What Remains of Edith Finch'' is a first-person adventure game developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released in April 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One; for Nintendo Switch in ...
'', ''
Telling Lies'', ''
Neon White
''Neon White'' is a first-person shooter and puzzle-platforming game developed by Angel Matrix and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and the Nintendo Switch on June 16, 2022. It was released on PlayS ...
'' and ''
Stray
Stray or The Stray or ''variation'', may refer to:
Animals
* A feral (abandoned or escaped) domestic animal; see also estray
* A stray or free-ranging dog
Places
* Areas of open grassland in North Yorkshire:
** Strays of York
** The Stray (Har ...
''.
History
The company was founded as a division of
Annapurna Pictures
Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through ...
on December 1, 2016 as Annapurna's attempt to expand into the video game industry. The company's early staff was composed of existing Annapurna executives, producer Neale Hemrajani and Technology Head James Masi along with several video game veterans, including Nathan Gary, Deborah Mars, Hector Sanchez, and Jeff Legaspi, who had worked in
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
and
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Jenova Chen
Xinghan Chen (; born October 8, 1981), known professionally as Jenova Chen, is a Chinese video game designer. He is the designer of the award-winning games ''Cloud'', '' Flow'', ''Flower'', and '' Journey'', and is co-founder of Thatgamecompany.
...
also served as the company's advisor. The company aimed to publish games that are "personal, emotional, and original".
On the day of establishment, the company announced several publishing deals it had signed with several independent developers. Some of the first games published by the company included ''
Gorogoa
''Gorogoa'' is a puzzle video game developed by Jason Roberts and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and iOS on 14 December 2017, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2018, and sho ...
'', ''
What Remains of Edith Finch
''What Remains of Edith Finch'' is a first-person adventure game developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released in April 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One; for Nintendo Switch in ...
'', ''
Wattam'', and ''
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
''. In 2017, Annapurna announced that it would begin publishing more games, which included ''
The Artful Escape
''The Artful Escape'' is a platform video game developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur, published by Annapurna Interactive for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game was released on September 9, 2021, and released for PlayStation 4 ...
'', ''
Ashen'', and ''
Telling Lies''.
In May 2020, it was announced that
Nathan Vella
Nathan Vella (born 10 February 1990) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a hooker for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup.
Youth career
Born and raised in Auckland, Vella attended Auckland Grammar School in the city ...
, former president of
Capybara Games
Capybara Games is an independent game studio based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The studio was founded in 2003 from a collection of Toronto IGDA members. The company is most known for developing 2011's '' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP' ...
, had joined the company as an executive. In October 2020, Annapurna established an internal development studio in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
.
In March 2022, video game journalism
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
channel ''
People Make Games
''People Make Games'' (PMG) is a British investigative video game journalism YouTube channel. The channel focuses on the developers and people who make video games. ''People Make Games'' has reported on topics like video game crunch, outsour ...
'' reported on three video game studios publishing under Annapurna Interactive — Mountains,
Fullbright, and
Funomena. In all three cases, employees reportedly reached out to Annapurna Interactive, addressing concerns regarding
abuse
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...
and a
toxic work environment being created by the studio founders. In hopes of getting Annapurna Interactive to mediate, employees stated that the publisher was siding mostly with the founders in question. According to one former studio employee, representatives of Annapurna Interactive had been quoted responding that "without strong personalities, games don't get made." Chris Bratt of ''People Make Games'' saw these incidents as part of a greater pattern of
auteur
An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...
culture that can be found across the independent film and video game industry.
Two limited edition box sets containing the games ''
Donut County
''Donut County'' is an indie video game developed by American indie designer Ben Esposito and published by Annapurna Interactive. In the game, the player moves a hole to swallow objects, which makes the hole increase in size. The concept origina ...
'', ''
Kentucky Route Zero
''Kentucky Route Zero'' is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Cardboard Computer and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was first revealed in 2011 via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and is separated into five acts tha ...
'', ''
Outer Wilds
''Outer Wilds'' is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Mobius Digital and published by Annapurna Interactive. It first released for Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 before releasing for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2022. A Nin ...
'', ''
Sayonara Wild Hearts
''Sayonara Wild Hearts'' is a music-based action game created by Swedish developer Simogo and published by Annapurna Interactive. Described as a "pop album video game", ''Sayonara Wild Hearts'' follows the story of a heartbroken young woman thr ...
'', ''
Wattam'', ''
What Remains of Edith Finch
''What Remains of Edith Finch'' is a first-person adventure game developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released in April 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One; for Nintendo Switch in ...
'', ''
Telling Lies'', and ''
Gorogoa
''Gorogoa'' is a puzzle video game developed by Jason Roberts and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and iOS on 14 December 2017, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2018, and sho ...
'', celebrating the first five years of the publisher, were released in collaboration with
iam8bit
iam8bit, Inc. is a media production company, creative policy institute, and art exhibition based in Los Angeles, California.
Development
iam8bit was originally developed by video game and tech journalist Jon M. Gibson, in the summer of 200 ...
for the PlayStation 4 in late 2020.
Games
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://annapurnainteractive.com/
Companies based in Los Angeles
2016 establishments in California
Video game companies established in 2016
Video game companies of the United States
Video game publishers
American companies established in 2016
Apple Design Awards recipients