Annapurna Interactive

Annapurna Games, LLC (trade name: Annapurna Interactive) is an American video game publisher and developer. The company is a division of Annapurna Pictures, and was founded in 2016. Notable games published by the company include Donut County, Kentucky Route Zero, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Wattam, What Remains of Edith Finch, Telling Lies, Neon White and Stray.

History
The company was founded as a division of Annapurna Pictures on December 1, 2016, as Annapurna's attempt to expand into the video game industry. The company's early staff was composed of existing Annapurna executives, producer Neale Hemrajani and Technology Head James Masi along with several video game veterans, including Nathan Gary, Deborah Mars, Hector Sanchez, and Jeff Legaspi, who had worked in Sony Interactive Entertainment and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Jenova Chen also served as the company's advisor. The company aimed to publish games that are "personal, emotional, and original".

On the day of establishment, the company announced several publishing deals it had signed with several independent developers. Some of the first games published by the company included Gorogoa, What Remains of Edith Finch, Wattam, and Florence. In 2017, Annapurna announced that it would begin publishing more games, which included The Artful Escape, Ashen, and Telling Lies.

In May 2020, it was announced that Nathan Vella, former president of Capybara Games, had joined the company as an executive. In October 2020, Annapurna established an internal development studio in Los Angeles.

In March 2022, video game journalism YouTube channel People Make Games reported on three video game studios publishing under Annapurna Interactive — Mountains, Fullbright, and Funomena. In all three cases, employees reportedly reached out to Annapurna Interactive, addressing concerns regarding abuse and a toxic work environment being created by the studio founders. In hopes of getting Annapurna Interactive to mediate, employees stated that the publisher was siding mostly with the founders in question. According to one former studio employee, representatives of Annapurna Interactive had been quoted responding that "without strong personalities, games don't get made." Chris Bratt of People Make Games saw these incidents as part of a greater pattern of auteur culture that can be found across the film and video game industry.

Two limited edition box sets containing the games Donut County, Kentucky Route Zero, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Wattam, What Remains of Edith Finch, Telling Lies, and Gorogoa, celebrating the first five years of the publisher, were released in collaboration with iam8bit for the PlayStation 4 in late 2020.

By 2021, Annapurna Interactive had become so profitable that Gray was promoted to CEO of Annapurna Pictures. Like its parent company, it relished on investing in innovative mid-budget productions.

In June 2022, Annapurna announced the formation of an internal game development studio headed by Chelsea Hash. Its first game, Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, was announced in 2023.

A limited edition box set containing the games Donut County, Gorogoa, Hindsight, I Am Dead, If Found..., Kentucky Route Zero, Neon White, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Solar Ash, The Artful Escape, The Pathless, What Remains of Edith Finch, was released in collaboration with iam8bit for the Nintendo Switch in late 2023.

In September 2023, while Annapurna Animation announced an animated film adaptation of Stray is in development after the success of its first film Nimona (2023), other games from Annapurna Interactive are also considered to have potential adaptations.

In November 2023, Annapurna Interactive made its first acquisition in South African studio 24 Bit Games, a studio which had provided support for other indie games such as Gone Home, Neon White, and Cocoon.