Conan the Barbarian, Solomon Kane, Mutant Chronicles, and Others Join Funcom's Games Portfolio
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A while back, Polygon ran an article about a resurgence of games based on Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian. Back then, they covered three Conan-related titles, but by the looks of it, this number may significantly go up in the near future. You see, earlier today Funcom announced that they went into a joint venture with Cabinet Group LLC to establish Heroic Signatures, a company that will hold and manage interactive rights to many of Robert E. Howard's works, including Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane; it will also control the interactive rights to a number of Swedish pen & paper and board games.
Through Heroic Signatures, Funcom will be able to co-develop and publish video games based on all these beloved properties, while not spreading themselves to thin personnel- and resource-wise. Speaking of resources - to help them get this new venture off the ground, Funcom has managed to secure a hefty $10.6 million investment from SwedBank Robur Fonder AB.
Heroic Signatures' current portfolio includes 29 pieces of intellectual property, and the first new game developed by a third party and published by Funcom should be revealed next year. I guess we'll have to wait and see where it all goes from there, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
Check out this press release for some additional details:
OSLO, Norway – December 18th, 2017 – Game developer and publisher Funcom is excited to announce that it is teaming up with Cabinet Group LLC to establish HEROIC SIGNATURES, a new company that will hold and manage the interactive rights to numerous attractive intellectual properties from the writings of Robert E Howard and the Swedish original pen & paper and board games. These properties include Conan the Barbarian, Solomon Kane, and Mutant Chronicles, all of which have been made popular through motion pictures, comic books, novels, tabletop games, miniatures, and more. Other properties include Dark Agnes, Kult, Kull of Atlantis, Mutant: Year Zero, and El Borak. HEROIC SIGNATURES’ portfolio includes a total of 29 different intellectual properties making up several decades worth of rich worlds and characters.
“Heroic Signatures is now the guardian and caretaker of a veritable treasure chest of incredible worlds, each of them ready to be brought into the interactive space,” said Funcom CEO, Rui Casais. “Any developer or publisher will be able to license these properties, and our ambition is to see a multitude of games grow from these worlds and to see the properties strengthened across the board to the benefit of everyone who works with them.”
Cabinet Group LLC controls the overall rights to all properties. Funcom and Cabinet Group LLC will each own 50% of HEROIC SIGNATURES, which will control and manage the interactive rights to each property, i.e. the right for video gaming on all platforms.
Funcom will utilize these properties, in addition to the Company’s internal properties, as part of an increased focus on co-development and publishing partnerships with third party developers. Funcom has previously shared that it will be going into select publishing partnerships with developers, and these partnerships are intended to be targeted to leverage the core strengths and markets of Funcom, with focus on quality over quantity of projects. The first of these projects developed by a third party and published by Funcom, will be revealed next year.
To fund publishing partnerships with third party developers, and secondarily to have more flexibility in investing in production of new games internally, Funcom has secured a 10.6 million USD investment from SwedBank Robur Fonder AB which has previously invested in several other major game developers and publishers.
“We see this as a new giant leap in Funcom’s turnaround,” says Erik Sprinchorn, fund manager at SwedBank Robur Fonder. “Building on its impressive recent development, multiple new revenue sources from IP and strategic expansion into publishing will increase cash flow robustness and boost further growth. Combined with additional funding and a reverse split the company is now really well positioned as an attractive long-term investment.”
For more information about Funcom, visit www.funcom.com. HEROIC SIGNATURES can be contacted via www.heroicsignatures.com.
