New Austin-based indie publisher Versus Evil launches

A new indie publishing label called Versus Evil has been launched in Austin.

The first title published by the firm is Stoic’s crowdfunded turn-based strategy game The Banner Saga, which was released last month.

Versus Evil is led by former Zenimax Online Studios marketing director Steve Escalante. He is joined by ex-Trion Worlds associate producer Lance James as community director and former Trion global brand director Georgina Verdon as director of marketing.

Following the release of The Banner Saga, the publisher has said it is handling a handful of other unannounced game releases and is also looking for further indie partnerships.

“Our mission is to make development teams independently successful by offering them our expertise in marketing, social media, community management, advertising, business development and distribution," said Versus Evil GM Steve Escalante.

“We are not in this business to take over a game’s creative direction or vision. We are here to work with each studio in a very transparent, open relationship and focus on the business needs of the studio so the dev teams can concentrate on making the games they love. This focus allows us to be a part in the creation of successful companies, not just successful products.”