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The hacky-slashy cyborg ninja game Ghostrunner is now fully owned by publisher 505 Games. It was sold by the co-publisher All in! Games for €5 million, roughly around $6 million USD. 505 Games now fully owns the Ghostrunner IP (intellectual property) after the game found massive success following its October 2020 release.
Funnily enough, the sales came about as the final outcome involving two publishers that both had eyes on the property early on. Ghostrunner, developed by One More Level, 3D Realms, and Slipgate Ironworks, had both aforementioned publishers vying for the rights. 505 Games was interested in purchasing the Ghostrunner IP outright during initial development, but the two weren’t able to come to a “mutually beneficial agreement.” The two publishers decided to partner up instead.
So, what changed? Ghostrunner was able to make up for its development costs within a day of release, earning positive reviews from critics and fans alike. The game became too delicious a prospect to share, so 505 Games wanted to buy it. Piotr Żygadło, CEO of All in! Games, said the €5 million was an offer “hard to refuse.”
“This transaction shows that the strategy we adopted was correct,” Żygadło explained. “The 5 million euros gained through the sale, which will go exclusively to our company, will allow us to speed up our development processes.”
Slicing and dicing into the future
The Ghostrunner IP acquisition by 505 Games means it receives just about everything. 505 owns its name, as well as the tech used to create it. However, All in! Games will still receive profits made by the game, as per an agreement made last June.
All in! Games loses a promising franchise, but it still has plenty in store. The publisher has about 20 games down the line, including War Mongrels, Chernobylite, and three DLCs for Ghostrunner. One of the DLCs for Ghostrunner will apparently be nearly double the length of the base game.
