The South African game development industry may be small but its talent and capabilities are certainly being noticed on the international stage. Local game makers have gone on to work overseas at an individual level, while with studios we’ve already seen the likes of Cape Town-based Free Lives release the vast majority of their hits, including Broforce, Genital Jousting and Terra Nil, under the respected Devolver Digital banner. Then there’s last year’s headline-making acquisition of co-development studio 24 Bit Games by Annapurna Interactive, making it the indie publisher’s first ever company purchase.
The point is that the South African game dev scene continues to go from strength to strength, and now another local studio is being snapped up by an international company. Yellow Lab Games, the team behind upcoming Metavoidal, is joining the Reforged Studios family.
Founded in 2023, Reforged Studios develops and publishes games for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and mobile. The South African founder and CEO of Reforged Studios, Peter Van Der Watt, comments:
“Growing up in South Africa, I have always been aware of the incredible game development talent the country hosts. Yellow Lab Games have been on my radar for some time, especially since seeing the positive reaction to Metavoidal, their first foray into PC and console gaming. I have championed South African game development around the world since moving to Scotland to found my first game studio back in 2011, and today the whole of Reforged’s board shares my enthusiasm for the region’s potential. So when the opportunity arose to have David Hecker and his team join our group, we did not hesitate. We are all really excited to add South Africa’s top games talent to the Reforged team and fully expect this to be the beginning of a broader investment in Africa’s burgeoning gaming scene.”
Yellow Lab Games is the third in a series of indie studio acquisitions for Reforged Studios in 2024, after bringing on board Ground Shatter in March and Extra Mile Studios in August.
As for upcoming projects, Yellow Lab will continue the development of Metavoidal, a heavy metal-themed action roguelite, which is scheduled for release on PC and consoles in 2025. You can download the demo via Steam right now. As a side note, Metavoidal has been doing the game show rounds for some time, with players able to get hands-on at the likes of gamescom in Cologne, Germany and, closer to home, rAge in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Yellow Lab will also continue to operate as an independent developer within the Reforged Studios group, developing their own Intellectual Property while also contributing to projects currently in development under the Reforged Studios umbrella.
David Hecker, Head of Studios of Yellow Lab Games added: “We are delighted to be entering the Reforged Studios fold alongside the esteemed Extra Mile Studios and Ground Shatter. This acquisition allows us to continue to produce great games but also allows us to tap into the extensive business development and operations expertise that we would not have had direct access to before.”