Devolver Digital

Devolver Digital was founded in Austin, Texas, by Mike Wilson, Harry Miller and Rick Stults.[1][2][3] The three had previously co-founded publishing companies Gathering of Developers in 1998, and Gamecock Media Group in 2007.[3][4][5] With both Gathering of Developers and Gamecock Media Group, the co-founders had envisioned a publishing model wherein the publisher would handle all logistical aspects of releasing a game, so that the developer could focus on developing the game itself.[4] This included offering deals wherein the developers could keep all rights to their games.[4] However, at the time of these companies' existences, the primary distribution channel for games was retail, which was very costly.[4] As a result, both companies saw themselves acquired by larger companies at some point, and were dissolved shortly thereafter.[4] Devolver Digital thus aimed at not producing games in physical forms, and instead focusing publishing efforts for digital distribution platforms, such as Steam.[4]

Devolver Digital started with six people, including the three founders, as well as founding partners Nigel Lowrie and Graeme Struthers, also prior business partners of Wilson.[4][6] The company's establishment was announced on June 25, 2009.[7][8] As the company did not occupy any office, its mailing address was that of a bird feed shop owned by Stults until 2018.[4] Their first game, announced alongside their formation, was Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, a high-definition remake of the 2001 game Serious Sam: The First Encounter, both developed by Croteam.[5] The original Serious Sam games were published by Gathering of Developers, and Croteam had continued working with Wilson and his partners while at Gamecock Media Group.[4][5] Since Croteam's deal with Gathering of Developers allowed Croteam to retain the rights to the series, they were able to work with Devolver Digital on further titles beyond the ownership of Gathering of Developers' assets.[4][9] The partnership proved fruitful, and Croteam and Devolver Digital continued to co-operated for a high-definition remake of the second Serious Sam game, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter.[4] To avoid having to bring in investors or otherwise raise funding, Devolver Digital at first avoided signing titles other than Serious Sam.[4] The company then opted to work with smaller independent studios, such as the two-man team Vlambeer, to produces indie games based on Serious Sam.[4] Between 2011 and 2012, these partnership produced four spin-off games based on Serious Sam, known as the Serious Sam Indie Series.[10][11]

Following their success with the Serious Sam Indie Series, Devolver Digital became more open to other independent studios.[4] The company signed a few new games, but also had to reject many offers due to a lack of capacities.[4] One of the games they signed was Hotline Miami by the two-man studio Dennaton Games.[4] The game, released in 2012, became Devolver Digital's breakout hit; it received critical praise, appeared on multiple "Best of 2012" lists, and sold over 1,700,000 copies by February 2013.[12][13][14]

In March 2013, at the SXSW Film Festival, Devolver Digital announced Devolver Digital Films, a film distribution subsidiary.[15][16] The partnership would be led by Devolver Digital's Wilson, alongside Andie Grace, who became vice-president of acquisitions.[16] In the films business, Wilson had previously produced the film Austin High, while Grace had held oversight roles for film projects created at the Burning Man Festival.[16] Devolver Digital cited the lack of support for independent filmmakers at the point of distribution and financial support in production as primary reason for the opening.[15]

Devolver continued to expand its publishing catalog from 2013, publishing roughly ten games per year. They have typically focused on smaller indie developers, and while they are often associated with weird and bizarre games, such as Genital Jousting, this is only by happenstance, according to Wilson.[17]

Devolver acquired Croteam, the developer behind the Serious Sam games, in October 2020.[18]

Devolver Digital presents Fork Parker, a fictional character, as their chief financial officer.[19][20] The character first appeared in a promotional video for Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter in August 2009.[21] A Twitter account is operated under Fork Parker's name, which, as of September 2015, has 10,000 followers.[22] He is also credited on Devolver Digital's blog posts and press releases.[19] Fork Parker is intentionally presented as satirical and inappropriate.[19][22] A game based on Fork Parker, Fork Parker's Crunch Out was developed by Mega Cat Studios for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and released by Devolver Digital in February 2019, with all profits going to Take This, a non-profit organization for mental health in the gaming community.[23][24]

Devolver Digital announced in May 2017 that they were to hold a press conference at the E3 2017 exhibition event.[25] The conference deviated from common practice, as it was a pre-recorded satirical video, entitled the Big Fancy Press Conference, of a supposed live show, hosted by Devolver Digital's supposed chief synergy officer Nina Struthers, played by actress Mahria Zook.[26] It included several mock announcements, such as that of a new microtransaction method where the customer could throw money at the screen to purchase items, and that of "Earliest Access", a parody on early access in which players could pre-order games that had yet to enter production.[27] The video was directed by Don Thacker, the head of film production company Imagos Softworks.[26]

Another Big Fancy Press Conference was held at E3 2018, with Zook reprising her role.[28][29] This show introduced on a new item called the "Lootboxcoin", a parody of both cryptocurrency and loot boxes, which was a plastic coin that had no actual value, but was made available for purchase from Devolver Digital's online store for a fluctuating price.[28][29] The presentation explicitly stated that the coin was not a cryptocurrency, should not be considered currency and warned viewers that they could not buy anything with it.[28][29]

Devolver Digital held another Big Fancy Press Conference at E3 2019, revealing a direct-to-consumer "Devolver Direct" video.[30] The show contained several announcements for actual games, including Devolver Bootleg, a collection of games parodying other games published by Devolver Digital.[30] The game was released alongside the announcement, at a 1% discount.[31] The music for the three conferences was composed by John Robert Matz; a compilation album, titled Devolver Digital Cinematic Universe: Phase 1 (Original Soundtrack), was released through label Materia Collective in June 2019.[32]