Movie production company Lyrical Media has launched a privately funded indie game publisher called Lyrical Games alongside veterans from Private Division, Humble Games, and Devolver Digital.
As reported by Variety, the new company will be led by Private Division’s former head of business development Blake Rochkind. It currently has three projects under its belt, including a new title from Hardspace: Shipbreaker developer Blackbird Interactive.
Rochkind said Lyrical Games has already received “many millions of dollars in investment” from Lyrical Media and explained the company intends to make a “big splash” during a time of upheaval across the industry.
“Obviously, there was a super cycle in the games business and many, many people are exiting or canceling projects. So a huge part of our philosophy was that this is a really unique moment in time,” said Rochkind.
“I want to be very clear, some things we do will be projects that are paper pitches that are not releasing for three years. However, there were some things that came about because of when we started this company, and because we were able to pick up some opportunistic things, we have some games that will be announced very, very soon and will be coming out in 2026.”
He described forming a new publisher in the current climate—which is dominated by layoffs, project cancellations, and funding difficulties—as “exciting and also somewhat stressful” but believes Lyrical Games is well positioned to hit the ground running.
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Lyrical is currently looking to partner with both veteran developers and young studios keen to “push the envelope.”
In a statement posted on Bluesky, the company said it hopes to work with creators bold enough to take “creative risks and substantial swings” in an increasingly risk-averse industry.
“We are not building a live service, billion-dollar empire,” it added. “We are not chasing quarterly earnings. We back exceptional games.”