It’s not often South African developers get on the gaming radar, but indie studio Yellow Lab Games has caught the attention of Reforged Studios. It just acquired the Cape Town-based studio whose claim to fame is Metavoidal – only months after it snapped up Ground Shatter and Extra Mile Studios.
It helps that the CEO of Reforged Studios, Peter Van Der Watt, is himself South African. With a name like that, what else could he be?
“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,” he said.
“This is acceptable” – Some guy on Reddit
Yellow Lab Games’ heavy metal-themed action rogue-lite
“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,” he continued.
We’ve yet to give Metavoidal a look, which is slated for a Q1 release on PC and “consoles”. But after seeing the trailer up above (and more importantly the free demo on Steam) we’re inclined to give it a shot. Yellow Lab Games will continue to operate independently, continuing its work on Metavoidal while lending a hand to other games under development at Reforged Studios.
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Metavoidal sees you playing as a drummer, with a pair of deadly drumsticks by your side. You know the rest; dying, dying, and even more dying – typical roguelite stuff. You’ll level up your character as you traverse through hordes of fans – all while building your personal heavy metal playlist to jam along to.
Yellow Lab Games consists of a rag-tag team of devs, all weaving their talents together to create Metavoidal. There’s the ex-heavy metal band member, a “veteran in the development space”, and a bunch of university graduates just trying to make it in a harsh industry. A steady flow of international resources filling their coffers should make that simpler, however.
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.”
