ROCKFISH Games celebrates a decade of developing interstellar space shooters.
ROCKFISH Games is celebrating 10 years of development and self-publishing of popular space shooters, making it a flagship for successful indie studios in the German video game industry.
Since its founding in 2014, the studio has released multiple titles in the EVERSPACE series on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo, selling over two million copies across all platforms.
Michael Schade and Christian Lohr founded ROCKFISH Games shortly after their previous company was acquired. A small team of developers followed them and began work on what would become the new studio’s franchise.
Kickstarter served as both a marketing and crowdfunding tool for EVERSPACE, exposing the game to space game fans around the world.
“EVERSPACE came at exactly the right time. Roguelikes were on the rise and our space shooter twist was well received by fans,” said Michael Schade, CEO and co-founder of ROCKFISH Games.
“But what defines ROCKFISH Games is our team. We couldn’t have done it without the talented developers who followed Christian and I from our previous project, most of whom are still with us today, as well as the team members who have joined us since the studio’s inception.”
Following the success of EVERSPACE, ROCKFISH Games pivoted from the first game’s roguelike gameplay to open-world adventure, and the change was enthusiastically received by space game fans around the world.
The release of EVERSPACE 2 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series
At its current trajectory, EVERSPACE 2 is on track to triple its predecessor’s sales and quadruple its revenue.
“Our journey through Early Access with EVERSPACE 2 over the past few years has been very exciting. “Moving from our roguelike roots to an open-world action RPG looter-shooter was a calculated risk, as it was much more in line with our original vision for the EVERSPACE series,” said Schade.
“I am pleased that players and media around the world celebrated this change. We still have so many fresh ideas, so many amazing stories to tell and fantastic adventures in store for space fans around the world.”
ROCKFISH Games also recently expanded the team with two experienced new additions. Sci-fi narrator Chris L’Etoile will support the narrative design of the EVERSPACE series and brings with him a wealth of experience from previous work on Mass Effect 1 & 2, The Outer Worlds, Aliens: Fireteam Elite and other well-known franchises.
Video game veteran Bleick Bleicken has joined the team as the new art director and will now bring his creative vision and over two decades of industry experience.
The story of EVERSPACE is far from over. ROCKFISH is currently working on a major free update called Incursions, which will be released in Spring 2024.
Incursions will bring a variety of new weapons and equipment, fresh features and the game’s transition to Unreal Engine 5. With the extensive expansion that is also in the works, fans of the EVERSPACE series can look forward to a lot of premium content.
ROCKFISH Games 10th anniversary video: