The developers of Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era have decided to join forces with four other game studios. Together, they have formed a holding company called Nova Assembly, with the aim of confronting the crisis in the industry.
The members of Nova Assembly include:
- Unfrozen — creators of Iratus: Lord of the Dead, currently working on the new installment of Heroes of Might & Magic;
- Sad Cat Studios — developers of the pixel cyberpunk platformer REPLACED, which will be released in just five days;
- Weappy — the studio best known for the This Is the Police series. They are currently working on the ambitious platformer, The Eternal Life of Goldman.
- VEA Games — a studio of veterans from Allods Team, notable for the game Nikoderiko: The Magical World;
- Game Garden — a mobile studio with titles like Florescence, Farmdale, Soul SPA, and many others in its portfolio.
The founders of Nova Assembly wrote an open letter where they discussed the company's working format and the reasons behind its creation. The developers expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of the gaming industry: recent years have seen more frequent game cancellations, mass layoffs, and studio closures — often triggered by poor decisions from "efficient managers." Nova Assembly believes that instead of waiting for further deterioration, indie studios should unite to collectively "build a new order."
All studios within Nova Assembly will become co-owners of the holding, enabling them to make key business decisions. However, officially, the new structure will be led by Unfrozen's founder, Denis Fedorov, as the CEO.
Each studio will continue to develop its own projects independently but now can seek support from colleagues in other teams if needed. According to the developers, they will share "absolutely everything they can share" — expertise, technology, and even funds.
Later, Nova Assembly plans to establish a publishing division to build direct relationships with players and reduce dependency on third-party partners.
Notably, all five studios in Nova Assembly are part of the portfolio of the investment group GEM Capital, which previously invested several million dollars in them. Whether the creation of the holding means GEM Capital plans to exit and sell its shares is unknown.