always supported our physical partners like Dotemu, 11 Bit and Motion Twin, and we were able to carry over our reputation as their go-to team for physical publishing (like Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, The Alters, Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania). Finally, we hit the ground running with a new content pipeline, signing great new digital games like Outbound, The Witch’s Bakery, Captain Wayne and The Road of Dust And Sorrow. Of course, as publishers we’re always on the lookout for great games and ultimately, we know we are only as good as our last release, and supporting those established partnerships alongside stellar new titles allowed us to grow rapidly!
Matt: Why do you think the industry needs to be more flexible in the way games get published? Ross: The industry is building walls where it should be building bridges. Indie games aren’t churned out on a production line, but rather are crafted by artists, programmers, human beings whose needs, team sizes, and creative goals vary wildly from project to project. You simply cannot apply the exact same formula to a cozy game made by two people, that you would to a survival horror title with a team of ten. When publishers hide behind numbers, sales metrics, and standardised pipelines, they make themselves completely unapproachable. We believe in the simple nature of human interaction, which comes from sitting down and having an open, transparent conversation to properly understand what both sides actually need to thrive.
Matt: Can you take us through some of your key established games? Ross: We’ve had a fantastic first year in 2025, with a great balance of very positively received digital titles (like Spirit Of The North 2, Captain Wayne: Vacation Desperation)
and incredible physical achievements (Absolum, The Alters, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound). Crucially, having these teams choose to stay with us during our transition from Merge Games into Silver Lining was the ultimate vote of confidence in our approach, a momentum we’ve proudly carried into 2026 by welcoming extraordinary new partners behind digital titles like The Road Of Dust And Sorrow, The Witch’s Bakery, Outbound, as well as physical ones like Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, Dave The Diver, Tiny Bookshop and the Bendy series. Growing alongside these visionary developers is a great honour, and we are deeply grateful for their trust as we help shape their next chapters.
Matt: You’ve also announced your first ‘Silver Bullet’ game. Can you tell us a little about the in-house team and about this first release? Ross: Silver Bullet was created with our future in mind as we look to build and share more of our own internal IP. Our debut title, Mr. Trippy, puts a twist on the store management genre: you play an ice cream vendor secretly running a drug smuggling operation on the side. The project grew out of a lighthearted real-world idea – after an ice- cream van pulled up to the office and gave us a receipt on a post-it note (it screamed legit business practice). The idea quickly took off, and the process relies on a strong collaborative dynamic: our internal team directs the creative vision while a trusted development partner brings the game to life. The response has been
incredible, with over 40,000 wishlists in just a month with only one announcement!
September/October 2026 MCV/DEVELOP | 33
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