Gamecock signs second Firefly deal

Gamecock has inked a second deal with London-based studio Firefly for the next game in its Stronghold series, Develop can reveal.

The agreement comes just days after the fledgling publisher opened a UK office and appointed industry vets Graeme Struthers and Sarah Seaby to spearhead the firm’s push into Europe.

Firefly’s Stronghold Crusader Extremes – the latest in the studio’s multi-million selling PC RTS franchise – will be released by Gamecock in April as part of its first wave of new releases. It is also working on Dungeon Hero, an ambitious action adventure for consoles and PC, for the publisher which is due next year.

Speaking to Develop, Gamecock CEO Mike WIlson said the deal was "proof positive" that Gamecock’s alternative approach to games publishing – which aims to put the developer first, grant them IP ownership and include them in key publisher decisions such as marketing – really works.

Wilson had originally helped discover Firefly and its Stronghold franchise, signing them up to his previous outfit Gathering of Developers, where they enjoyed similar contractual benefits.

He said: "Firefly did a lot of work creating Stronghold when working with Gathering, and because of the way we worked back then they owned the IP and were the main brand. It’s worked – it’s a million selling franchise. Our relationship with Firefly is a really strong demonstration of that approach."