Former staffers at Gearbox Publishing have founded a new publisher, Cooldown Games.
Speaking with Bloomberg, co-founder and CEO Steve Gibson said the plan is as it was at Gearbox: bring “promising projects” to the game market and continue working with his fellow alums after Gearbox Software was sold off by Embracer to Take-Two last year.
While some employees remained Embracer at rebranded publisher Arc Games, others were laid off as part of the parent company’s restructuring plans.
Helping Gibson start up the new company are chief officers Matt Charles (product), Erick Cobbs (business), Jackson Hardesty (operations), Jeff Skal (marketing), Jimmy Sieben (technology), and Brad Schliesser (revenue).
Be cool(down), man
Cooldown’s overall aim is to publish titles “where you don’t feel like you’re falling behind if you don’t play it enough.”
Skal noted the struggles with live-service needing to vie for players’ time when they already have “forever games” set in stone. Cooldown-published titles, he reasoned, can serve as good in-between games instead of titles that “ask more of us than we can give.”
To that end, Gibson said games from interested developers have to fit in at least two of its three categories: reliability, like an established studio or a remaster for a well-known game; those with “big hit” potential; or a project that teaches Cooldown something or helps the company strengthen its platform relationships.
“Our team is confident rational business models will be a long-term strength of Cooldown Games and that just might be a refreshing contrast from many recent industry trends,” said Gibson in the company announcement. “My passion of helping game makers reach as many game players as possible while making sure that it’s a rewarding experience for everyone involved is at the center of all of this.”
Developers interested in working with Cooldown can contact the studio here, and those looking for a job can apply here. Meanwhile, Gibson’s interview with Bloomberg, which also details his time at Gearbox Publishing and Embracer before being laid off, is here.