HEAVILY INVESTED

Garavaryan doesn’t want to talk too much about Kepler’s funding – he knows eight-figure sums have a tendency to pull focus, in this case away from the studios themselves and Kepler’s structure. But we have to ask: it’s obvious what the benefit is for studios here, but what’s the pitch to investors? “If you look at the biggest successes of the past few years, whether it’s Among

Us or Valheim or anything that’s really hit, they came from independent teams who were able to remain independent and keep control of creation.” Which is the aim here, naturally: giving the studios “the time, the space, the support” they need to make great games. “If we do that really well, and keep selecting great teams that complement the group well, then financial success will follow.”