Bit of an odd one in businessworld. Ubisoft have handed the job of selling their upcoming fantasy strategy Heroes Of Might And Magic: Olden Era to another publisher. Hooded Horse are taking on that task, a crowd you might know as the purveyor of other strategical capers like Manor Lords, Norland and the like. Experienced tactics barons and ostensibly the right bunch for the job. The question that’s bugging me is: why? The answer is probably: money.
“We are thrilled to welcome Hooded Horse aboard to support the next chapter of Heroes of Might and Magic,” said Alain Corre, Ubi’s chief publishing officer. “Their passion for the franchise and strong connection with strategy communities make them the perfect complement to Unfrozen’s creative talent.”
Unfrozen are the studio who’re actually making the game, and who likewise say they are “very excited” to be casting their spells under the watchful gaze of Tim Bender, the CEO of Hooded Horse, whose steadily growing payload of strategy games grows ever more threatening to the western world.
“This is a unique relationship,” said a representative from Hooded Horse, who clarified that the strategy specialists will be taking over the “day-to-day operations of publishing” the game, and will be listed alongside Ubi on the Steam page.
“Hooded Horse will serve as publisher like it does for all of its other titles, but Ubisoft remains in the picture as well, supporting where needed, and it also remains the owner of the Heroes IP.”
It’s hard to know the exact reasons for offloading such a game to another publisher, but it’s possibly a result of Ubisoft’s ongoing internal fidgeting – a decision that benefits some spreadsheet somewhere in the blue-lit bowels of the accounting department. Press releases like the one quoted above don’t normally enlighten anyone as to the real logic behind the slow and inscrutable movements of large companies.
For their part, Unfrozen say publishing with Hooded Horse “means more marketing support, better visibility, and helps extend our reach to more regions.” But it’s hard to understand why a giant like Ubisoft couldn’t provide such things themselves. We’ve asked them for comment.
Earlier this year Ubisoft split into two separate entities, like some freaky dungeon slime. One big Tencent-flavoured subsidiary carved off Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six , and Far Cry games, while other games (your Princes of Persia, your Raymans) remained more firmly on the French behemoth’s plate. Since then Ubisoft have warned of delays and cost-cutting. This deal with Hooded Horse might simply be one of those cost-cutting measures.
As for the game itself, Heroes Of Might And Magic: Olden Era was announced last year and its early access release has been delayed until later this year, say the developers. It’s a turn-based strategy prequel that wants to go back to the series roots. You’d have to get some mucky hands to find those roots – they’re buried back in 1995. I’ll probably sit it out, for fear of 30 years of lore.
Disclosure: I worked on Cataclismo as a writer, which was eventually published by Hooded Horse.