Yooka-Laylee developer, Playtonic Games’ has found itself more solid ground in the form of renowned British publisher, Team 17. The talented team behind the Worms franchise.
While fans and backers may be skeptical of the move it’s undoubtedly a strong one, ensuring a strong future for Yooka-Laylee by having Team 17 handle publishing duties and leaving Playtonic to focus on development.
Gavin Price, Playtonics’ Creative Lead reaffirmed this when saying
“From the very start we said that we’d welcome only a partner that could genuinely improve the creation of our game, while respecting the independence and creative autonomy of our development team. Team17’s 25-year industry-leading expertise will significantly benefit Yooka-Laylee in a myriad of ways, not least in expanded localisation, improved QA testing, certification and access to vastly better resources for our team. Working alongside such a strong partner will allow the Playtonic team to focus 100% of our efforts on building the best possible version of Yooka-Laylee for backers and new fans alike.”
Debbie Bestwick, Team 17’s Managing Director, demonstrated a passion for the record breaking project when saying.
“We have deep respect for the team at Playtonic. They have a very rich heritage and have worked on titles close to the heart of a lot of our team here. We’ve been following their Kickstarter campaign with interest and are delighted to welcome them onto our label and into the Team17 family. I can’t wait to start working together on this great game and hope this is the start of a long term partnership between Team17 and Playtonic.”
The core Playtonic team currently sits at less than 10, with such a small team dedicated to development and a lack of experience in publishing as a whole, this partnership is certainly a beneficial one, not only in terms of experience but also in sticking with a core sensibility that so many fell in love with in the first place, and what drove the success for Yooka-Laylee; A small team, making something they are passionate about.
