The inescapable specter of corporate rebranding claims another victim and this time it hits closer to home.Today, Team17 Group is no more.
The parent company was formed after the legendary studio revolutionized the gaming landscape with the release of theWormsandAlien Breedseries in the 1990s, and came into being after the merger of 17-Bit Software and Team 7. One of its founders,Martyn Brown, passed away late last year.
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As of today, Team17 Group is now called everplay.According to Eurogamer, the impetus for the change is to make a clearer distinction between the parent company andits subsidiaries.
An Invisible Change
The lineup under everplay is split into three branches. The one you are most familiar with is Team17 Digital,which handlesthe bulk of game development and publishing. This wing of everplay has a strong recent record with the publishing of the cozy hitMy Time At Portiaand WW2 large-scale shooterHell Let Loose.
In 2021, what then was Team17 Group acquired StoryToys. The company focuses on developing and publishinggames for children, working with both original titles and major IPs such as theLego Duplo Peppa Piggame for Android, iOS, and Kindle.
Team17 Group also moved to acquire the German simulation specialist Astragon Entertainment.The deal, officialized in January 2022, is valued at around £83 million (approximately $112 million at the time of the acquisition).
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Astragon is responsible for the eccentric but extremely relaxingBus Simulatorseries, introduced in 2007 but which got its big break with Bus Simulator 18. The German publisher and developer also handles lesser-known titles, while also serving as the publisher for theFarming Simulatorfranchise in Germany.
For the time being, it seemsthe rebranding of the parent company responsible for the development and publishing arms of Team17 will be functionally invisible to players. All in-game materials reference the publisher and developer rather than the parent company.
Even with that in mind, there is a sad aura to the whole affair. Team17 has beena founding member of the modern PC gaming landscape, and to see it change its visual identity, even at just a corporate level, hurts a little bit.
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