Epic Games has snatched up yet another partnership within the industry. This time, the Fortnite developer has shaken hands with Brazilian developer Aquiris, who created the rather brilliant polygonal racer Horizon Chase Turbo.
This is the latest deal that the studio has reached, following on from acquiring Harmonix last year. This partnership is a little bit different, however, as Epic is simply investing in the company rather than outright nabbing them for their own. The two studios have also entered into a multi-game publishing agreement for some unannounced multiplatform games. That means we might well be seeing more Aquiris games on the Switch.
Mauricio Longoni, CEO of Aquiris, sounded extremely positive about the deal:
“We are thrilled to partner with Epic Games. It’s a strong endorsement of what Aquiris has built so far, and we can’t wait to show the world what we are working on together. Epic’s publishing power and close collaboration with us on tech, business intelligence, and product development will help us boost the quality and the reach of our titles.”
Hector Sanchez, who heads up Epic Games' third-party publishing sector, will be joining the board of directors at the Brazilian company, heaped praise on the studio:
“Aquiris not only have a keen eye for quality game experiences, but have demonstrated great artistic and technical capabilities with their utilization of Unreal Engine in their products. We’re honored to have this opportunity to strengthen our relationship with one of the premiere studios in the growing and important Latin American development scene.”
Aquiris' best-known game is probably Wonderbox: The Adventure Maker, an adventure game where you can build, solve puzzles, and go on role-playing adventures across four different campaigns. There's also a Discover mode where players can create and share their own games that they've built within Wonderbox. The game is currently only available on Apple devices, but its penchant for experimentation and bright visuals would make this the perfect game to port to Switch.
Let us know what you think of the deal or if you'd like to see Wonderbox or any other Aquiris games come to Switch in the comments!
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 10
With all the acquisitions in the industry as of late, I am shocked that out of all the gaming companies, the one that Epic has partnered with rather than acquire is the one literally called Aquiris. It's in the name for goodness sake!
Horizon chase turbo is great, I have it on ps4 (psplus), ios, and switch. I hope their next games is even better 😃
Yes but if I am not mistaken Sony made a collaboration-purchase of Epic, so if a sequel to Horizon Chase Turbo will be made, I believe it will be a Sony exclusive..
I thought Nintendo partnering in some way with Aquiris would have been a good idea, Wonderbox feels like the base game for a Zelda Maker.
Let's hope they don't pull an EA and gut the company.
I'm really happy Aquiris has received this kind of recognition. I hope the investment helps them keep making high quality games and bring innovations that wouldn't be possible without pouring more money into projects (although I don't know what impact such investment will have on their work apart from great publicity and visibility). I also hope they're still free to keep making their games and aren't subjected to Epic's approval of their decisions
Can I just get the Senna DLC for my physical version of Horizon Chase already.
Good bye, Aquiris and thanx for this wonderful game!
Personally I don't believe this is for the good. They sell their freedom and putting on the bracelets of a "big one". I can't remember things like that turned out good in the past.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY RACING GAMES BEING MADE RIGHT NOW
@Coxula Was about to say pretty much the same.
Indie studios partnering closely with / being bought by the fat cats rarely works out in their favor.
Indie games's strengths lie precisely in the fact that they aren't the big fishes, that they design their games based on their vision, not bottom line.
Plus, Epic is a pretty shady customer in its own right.
So yeah, thanks for a great game. But i wouldn't hold my breath for them now.
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