In February 2018, Ghost Ship Games released its maiden voyage title:Deep Rock Galactic.The co-op shooter, which sees players taking the roles of space-fairing dwarves mining the bounties of the hostile planet Hoxxes, has grown in impressive ways throughout its first five years and its future still looks bright. Ghost Ship is gearing up for a celebration of itsindiehit, with an anniversary stream set to air on March 2.
Game Rant recently spoke with Ghost Ship Games CEO Søren Lundgaard about the studio’s plans forDRG’s anniversary celebration, and its newly announced publishing arm, Ghost Ship Publishing. Lundgaard teased a few details aboutDeep Rock’s fifth birthday, including a special, blast-from-the-past mode to honor how far the game has come since release.
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Deep Rock Galactic’s 5th Anniversary
Lundgaard played gave fans some pretty clear expectations for the March 2 stream.
“[W]e are going to releaseDeep Rock Galacticas it was when it launched five years ago, so that’s one thing we’ve been working on. We will also reveal a roadmap for what we will work on, or what we are actually already working on withDeep Rock Galactic.”
Most live service games that have shown tremendous improvement, likeGTA Online,Sea of Thieves, andDestiny 2, are the products of large teams or AAA developers. But since launch, Ghost Ship has not only squashed bugs and added cosmetics; it has incorporated new weapons and mission types that expandDeep Rock Galactic’s core gameplayin surprising ways. Ghost Ship has also closely collaborated with its community through social media and Discord, garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam.
ExperiencedDRGminers will doubtlessly be excited to see the road map for what’s coming next, but the ability to “revisit” a game that has radically changed since its launch is a fitting tribute to alive service gamethat is constantly evolving. And as Blizzard’s successfulWarcraft Classicreleases have demonstrated, players love revisiting a favorite game’s roots.
Coffee Stain As a Proud Parent
During the anniversary stream, Ghost Ship Games will also be elaborating on its recent announcement to open a publishing vertical,Ghost Ship Publishing. The decision to start publishing games as well as developing may come as a surprise to many, especially since Ghost Ship has a very positive relationship withDeep Rock Galactic’sown publisher, Coffee Stain. But Lundgaard is not worried about rubbing Ghost Ship’s ‘parent’ the wrong way with potential competition:
“I think they are even kind of proud that we are doing this now. I mean, I would be the same with some of the developers we end up signing with. If they end up self-publishing, or even start their own business to spread the knowledge and help others get their games to the market, I would be really proud.”
Furthermore, Ghost Ship Publishing may reveal at least one of its upcoming games during the stream. While Deep Rock Galactic will certainly be a focus, Lundgaard discussed how the company intends to reiterate its new publishing arm but give it a bit more weight at the March 2 stream.
“We will announce one or more of these new titles. We have three titles lined up, but we’re not sure if they are all “announce-able,” so to speak, in three weeks’ time.”
Ghost Ship Games: Balancing Game Development and Publishing
Even though Ghost Ship Games has a full slate on its plate with itsongoing support ofDeep Rock Galacticand its new publishing venture, fans can rest assured that the studio will be creating more original titles in the future. Most of Ghost Ship Games is composed of game developers, and as Lundgaard phrases it, “they will do what they are best at, and that is developing games.”
Deep Rock Galacticis available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
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