Ludwig and Pirate Software team up to form Offbrand Games

Ludwig and Pirate Software have formed Offbrand Games, a joint venture between the two powerhouses with plenty of games to come.

In 2022, well-known YouTuber videogamedunkey started gaming publishing company Bigmode, to help good games succeed for a long time.

Mizkif and OTK as a whole have gotten involved with publishing as well, with Unrooted being released soon as one of their projects. It seems that Ludwig and Pirate Software also want a piece of the pie.

During IGN Live, Ludwig’s Offbrand creative agency made an appearance with the announcement that Offbrand would be entering the gaming space with Offbrand Games. However, that’s not the only announcement. 

Well-known streamer and industry veteran Pirate Software joins the ship. Pirate Software, aka Thor, joined as Director of Strategy for the publisher.

During the recent Helldivers 2/PSN fiasco, Pirate Software was very vocal with his frustration, citing the pitfalls of working with a big developer as part of the problem.

His joining Offbrand Games seems to be aimed at preventing large-scale issues like that again. In a lengthy post shared on Twitter/X, PirateSoftware shared: “I’m going to help manage the relationship between developers and us to make sure there is mutual benefit for both sides.”

He continued: “I’ve seen far too many instances of publisher over-reach, and I’ve wanted to do something about it for close to a decade. This is a chance to help push our industry in a better direction, and I am super happy to do it.”

Offbrand Games already has the ball rolling, with them picking up Rivals 2 as the first official project they’re publishing. It’s the sequel to Rivals of Aether, a game that found its niche audience as one of the strongest competitors to Super Smash Bros. out there.

The duo will also collaborate on the upcoming Pirate Jam 15 on July 17, a space where developers work together to share ideas and create games.