Wasteland 2 Post-funding Update #31: Deep Silver Will Distribute the Title
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inXile partners with Deep Silver to distribute Wasteland 2
inXile Entertainment and Deep Silver today announced a distribution deal for inXile's upcoming cRPG Wasteland 2. Deep Silver is a veteran publisher and already a long-standing partner for inXile.
inXile is currently working on Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera, both funded via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.
The deal allows inXile Entertainment to focus on all creative aspects of developing the game, while Deep Silver handles the retail release of the game and the physical good fulfillment for the Kickstarter backers.
(This is a perfect opportunity for inXile: it allows us to continue to focus all of our energy and money into the creative aspects of the game while letting Deep Silver take our game outside of the pure digital space. This has the added bonus of allowing us to spend more of the Kickstarter funds on development while continue to retain all ownership and control), says Brian Fargo, CEO inXile Entertainment. (I've known the people at Deep Silver for many years and they have always been a first rate organization to deal with.)
Deep Silver will also assist inXile in the QA testing of the localized international versions of the game.
(The uber-successful crowdfunding of Wasteland 2 through Brian Fargo and his team has shown how much interest for an RPG with traditional values still exists on consumers' side aside from what large publishers think the market needs. Deep Silver is very happy to support inXile Entertainment in bringing Wasteland 2 to the retail market), comments Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media.
And a snip from the FAQ in case you're worried by the news:
Can Deep Silver make any changes to the game?
No, we're retaining creative control. Thanks to our backers, we're fully funded and free to implement our own creative vision, and directly communicate with our backers and crowdsource ideas.
So this is good news?
Absolutely! For inXile, we always intended to use a third party to handle these matters, as we are simply too small a studio to be capable of handling all the award fulfillment details from a practical standpoint. By finding the right partner, we gain not just time: it also frees up financial resources for us as they are more efficient at handling physical fulfillment than we would be. All of that time and funding saved will go right back into the game. We'll also benefit from additional support from Deep Silver on things like international version QA.
For our backers and fans, it assures you that distribution will be handled professionally and quickly, and will assure a smooth experience for getting the game and goodies into your hands. This deal also allows us to put a retail version on the shelves, so people who discover the game later can still get a physical copy. The digital distribution and sales are still being handled by inXile.
The update also includes a couple of screenshots (1 and 2) of the latest iteration of the UI, which show the Highpool area. Compared to the earlier gameplay video, my impression is that the game's graphics got another polish pass.
