As referenced in the Company's 2018 annual results, external partnerships (including third party publishing agreements where Frontier brings other developers' games to market) are expected to form an important element within the Company's plans as it continues to grow its portfolio. The Agreement marks the first publishing partnership under Frontier's new Frontier Publishing initiative.
Haemimont Games ("Haemimont"), founded in 1997 in Bulgaria, boasts a passionate team of over 60 highly skilled people and a wealth of experience in the strategy and management game genres, developing the hit title Surviving Mars and titles in the Tropico series. The partnership will see Frontier and Haemimont work together on a new project for release in two to three years' time, with Frontier providing the development funding as well as marketing and distribution.
This deal is strategic and the first step to growing Frontier's publishing business with third party titles. The Board expects the publishing business to become a material contributor to the group in years to come, as more partnerships are agreed.
Frontier CEO David Braben said: "This is a strong start for Frontier Publishing - we're delighted to partner with a studio of the quality of Haemimont. Our Frontier Publishing initiative helps us to further expand our game portfolio through external development partnerships that supplement our own internal development roadmap. We are in discussions with other developers and hope to be able to announce further publishing partnerships in the future."
Gabriel Dobrev, CEO at Haemimont Games said: "Partnering with Frontier, who have a long history with great, innovative titles, is the perfect fit for us at Haemimont Games. We're proud to be the first partner for Frontier Publishing and can't wait to reveal details on our brand new project in the future."
Frontier CCO Jonny Watts said: "Haemimont has a great reputation within the industry and we're excited to start this working relationship. From the beginning of discussions it was clear both companies have a strong passion for the management and strategy genre that makes this an ideal match."