The creators of HoMM: Olden Era, REPLACED, and This Is the Police have joined forces
Alexander Pushkov
The developers behind Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, REPLACED, and This Is the Police, along with two other indie studios with CIS roots, have announced the creation of a new holding company called Nova Assembly. The goal is to pool resources, knowledge, and experience in order to better withstand the industry crisis and become less dependent on outside investors.
Nova Assembly includes:
- Unfrozen — the creators of the roguelike Iratus: Lord of the Dead and the developers of the highly anticipated Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era;
- Sad Cat Studios — the team behind the cinematic pixel-art platformer REPLACED, which is set to launch on April 14;
- Weappy — the developers of the This Is the Police series. The studio is currently working on the ambitious platformer The Eternal Life of Goldman;
- VEA Games — a studio founded by veterans of Allods Team that released the platformer Nikoderiko: The Magical World;
- Game Garden — a mobile studio whose portfolio includes casual projects such as Florescence and Farmdale.
The creators of Nova Assembly published an open letter explaining why the new holding company was needed and what principles it will follow. According to the developers, they are deeply dissatisfied with the current state of the industry: in recent years, news about project cancellations, layoffs, and studio closures has become almost routine, and the initiators believe that management mistakes are often to blame. Nova Assembly argues that indie teams should stop passively watching what is happening and instead unite to build a more sustainable system together.
All studios joining Nova Assembly will become co-owners of the new structure and gain the right to participate in key decisions. At the same time, Unfrozen founder Denis Fedorov will take over as CEO. Each team will retain its independence and continue working on its own projects, but will now be able to rely on support from other members of the holding. This means not only sharing experience and technology, but also, when necessary, financial backing. In the future, Nova Assembly also plans to launch its own publishing arm. The idea is to help studios build a more direct relationship with their audience and rely less on outside partners.
Nova Assembly could become one of the key players in the indie market, because several of its projects already look like potential hits. In March, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era made it into Steam’s top 10 most wishlisted games. Sad Cat Studios and Thunderful have announced that Replaced has surpassed 850,000 wishlists on Steam.
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