With previous reports indicating that former staff members of Annapurna Interactive that had resigned from the company last September would be taking on ownership of Take-Two Interactive’s indie publishing label Private Division, a new company dubbed Fictions has seemingly since taken over. This was spotted by users of the ResetEra forums, where it was discovered that Fictions would be publishing Game Freak’s Beast of Reincarnation.
The company is seemingly comprised of former Annapurna Interactive staff members, along with a few former employees of Private Division. Bloomberg’s Jason Schrier has also commented on the development, confirming that the new publisher is made up largely of former Annapurna Interactive employees.
Currently, along with Beast of Reincarnation, Fictions also lists LEGO Party among the titles it is publishing. Beast of Reincarnation was unveiled back in June with a trailer. The title, being developed by Pokemon developer Game freak, will revolve around themes of the creation of life, and how it comes into conflict with the march of technology. It is slated for release on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026.
Reports of ex-Annapurna Interactive staff members wanting to take over ownership of Private Division along with Take-Two Interactive wanting to sell it off first came about all the way back in January. At the time, Private Division was believed to have been bought by Texas-based equity firm Haveli Investments, who then hired ex-Annapurna staff members to run the publishing label.
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick had referred to the sale of Private Division to Haveli Investment as a strategic decision that would allow the company to focus more resources on its upcoming projects. Zelnick also spoke about how the company’s main focus was better served with the AAA market rather than the indie scene.
“We made this strategic decision so that we could focus all of our resources on growing our core and mobile businesses for the long term,” said Zelnick in November. “We’re really best at these big AAA experiences. We have the biggest intellectual properties in the interactive entertainment business and some of the biggest intellectual properties in the overall entertainment business, and to make sequels to existing beloved franchises, as well as create new hit intellectual properties, is our mission.”
When it was active, Private Division had released quite a few games since its founding in 2017, with one of the more popular titles from its catalogue being Obsidian’s RPG The Outer Worlds. The publisher also helped with the release of other indie games, including OlliOlli World, and even Rollerdrome. It was also the publisher for Kerbal Space Program 2. However, the ambitious sequel to the space program simulator Kerbal Space Program has since been largely abandoned.
