Long-Standing Independent Publisher Opens North Beach Games Prague, Led by Survival Crafting and Game Design Luminaries
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. and Prague — Aug. 16, 2024 — Independent publisher and industry leader in the survival crafting genre, North Beach Games today announced the formation of a new development studio, North Beach Games Prague. Founded in 2018, North Beach Games was built on the vision of bringing innovative games to market through a unique hybrid approach to publishing and partnerships. Now, the company will leverage decades of collective experience handling some of gaming’s biggest licensed IP and its proven track record of success releasing top survival crafting games to evolve into a multi-faceted business that not only publishes games on PC and consoles, but also develops them internally through its global footprint.
North Beach Games Prague is based in Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, and is led by Chief Technology Officer and acclaimed survival crafting game designer, Sam Edwards (Beam Team Games, co-creator of Stranded Deep), and General Manager, Tomáš Pšenička (Keen Software House, creator of Space Engineers). The core development team will operate primarily on-site at the new studio facility, while also supporting some staff working remotely from around the globe.
The initial focus for the studio will be to create and support new games within the survival crafting space, a genre that the collective global team has forged with the release of genre-defining games such as Stranded Deep, 7 Days to Die and The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™. North Beach Games now reunites with Sam Edwards, co-creator of the multi-million unit-selling survival crafting hit, Stranded Deep, to develop the long awaited sequel - Stranded Deep 2.
"We’re super excited to be kicking off the development of Stranded Deep 2 with our new development team, North Beach Games Prague,” said Sam Edwards, Creative Director and Chief Technology Officer of North Beach Games. "Tomáš and his talented team will be a great partner to build out the studio as we look to the future of the franchise and explore new horizons."
Stranded Deep 2
With the launch of its new Prague studio, North Beach Games takes direct control of its future, leveling up its capabilities and creativity in an environment where the company can take risks on new ideas with a passionate, highly skilled team. From publisher, to developer, and now global studio, it is the company’s mission to reimagine the way games are made and played through empowering the world’s best independent developers with the support and resources they need to create and successfully launch games worldwide.
"We couldn’t be more excited to bring Sam and Tomáš into the North Beach Games fold, heading up our new Prague development studio,” said John Miller, CEO of North Beach Games. “We’ve worked with both of them for years as partners, so to all be on the same team is a great feeling and will allow us to do even more exciting work together in the survival crafting space. After all of the volatility in the market and industry for the past year, the time feels right to start this next chapter of our business, carving our own path towards a positive future for our company."
North Beach Games will continue to support and expand its publishing efforts, building upon relationships with platform, development and licensing partners, exploring new opportunities to collaborate with creatives in the survival crafting space to bring innovative products to market in the future. Currently, the company is working with developer Free Range Games and licensing partner, Middle-earth Enterprises to release The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™, the only survival crafting video game set in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth™, the iconic fantasy world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, on PC via Steam and Xbox Series X|S on Aug. 27 worldwide.
North Beach Games will be at Gamescom 2024 at the Koelnmesse Convention Center in Cologne, Germany, from Aug. 21 through Aug. 23 to discuss the launch of their new studio, future development plans, continued publishing updates and more. Media interested in scheduling an appointment to meet with the team are encouraged to reach out to northbeachgames@oneprstudio.com.
Additional information about Stranded Deep 2 will be made available in the future. To learn more, visit the game’s teaser website.
For details about North Beach Games, visit their official website and follow them on X, and LinkedIn.
About North Beach Games:
North Beach Games is a global independent game company that publishes PC and console games with a focus on the survival crafting and role-playing categories. Its mission is to partner with and empower the world's best independent developers and studios. Headquartered in San Rafael, CA, North Beach Games is comprised of industry veterans with a wide range of experience in publishing, marketing and game development. The company opened a new internal development studio in 2024 in Prague, to expand its global footprint as a premier expert of survival crafting and RPG experiences. Most recently, North Beach Games has published The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™ with developer Free Range Games and licensing partner, Middle-earth Enterprises for PC via the Epic Games Store and the PlayStation®5 computer entertainment system in 2023, with versions for PC via Steam and Xbox Series X|S console systems scheduled to release in August 2024.
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Kjell Vistad | Grady Penna
ONE PR Studio [for North Beach Games]
