It is worth noting that the transaction hasn’t gone all the way through as of yet, and is pending approval by Thunderful’s shareholders. An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) for this approval will be held on August 28. However, the transaction has been supported by the Thunderful Group board of directors unanimously, as well as from two of its largest shareholders: Owe Bergsten and Brjann Sigurgeirsson.

“This transaction marks another important milestone in Atari’s development with the expansion of its publishing and development capabilities in the European region,” said chairman and CEO of Atari Wade Rosen in the press release announcing the agreement. “Thunderful is recognized for publishing and developing critically acclaimed games, and with the announced transformation plan, as well as the quality and commitment of Thunderful’s teams, we are confident that Thunderful will be returning to a profitable growth path while helping to further develop Atari operations in Europe.”

This agreement comes a year after a tumultuous year for Thunderful Group, which included the company laying off around 20 percent of its workforce. The round of lay-offs resulted in around 100 employees losing their jobs, and the company attributed it to “over-investments” made by the company that “have proven unsustainable given the current industry climate, which has resulted in the Group being particularly affected by challenging market conditions.”

At the time, the company had stated that it would “focus its efforts on the strategic assets with the best long-term prospects”.

“To ensure and strengthen the viability of the Group, we have found no alternative other than to reduce costs and focus the business on areas with the best future growth and profitability prospects,” said thunderful CEO Martin Walfisz in a statement at the time. “To ensure and strengthen the viability of the Group, we have found no alternative other than to reduce costs and focus the business on areas with the best future growth and profitability prospects.”

The round of lay-offs was followed up by indie publisher Headup splitting away from Thunderful Group. Headup, known for publishing smaller indie games like Bridge Constructor, White Shadows and Industria, among many others, was sold to Microcuts Holdings – a company that was established by Headup founder Dieter Schoeller specifically for the transaction. While Headup had originally been acquired by Thunderful for €11 million, the publisher’s departure from the group was priced at €500,000.

Atari, on the other hand, has been seeing something of an upswing, with the company having acquired the rights to more than a hundred ‘80s and ‘90s games back in 2023, as well as Nightdive Studios. Just last year, Atari had also acquired the rights for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. This came just a couple of years after Atari had said that it would be focusing its efforts on premium console and PC games.

It’s been announced that indie publisher Headup – known for the likes of Bridge Constructor, Industria, White Shadows, and more – is splitting from Thunderful Group and being sold to Microcuts Holding, a holding company established by Headup founder Dieter Schoeller for the purposes of this transaction. The deal will entail a purchase price of €500,000. In 2021, Thunderful Group acquired Headup in a deal worth up to €11 million.

With Headup going independent, it will also be taking with it the rights to “approximately” 80 catalog titles, as well as five upcoming ones that are currently in development. Meanwhile, Thunderful Group will retain control of “select assets and IP”, and will also receive a revenue share of up to €300,000 for a future unannounced title.

Thunderful Group has announced that it’s laying off 20% of its workforce. The company’s website says it employs over 500 employees, which would mean about 100 jobs will be cut.

Thunderful is attributing the need for layoffs to several “over-investments” that it made in recent years that it says “have proven unsustainable given the current industry climate, which has resulted in the Group being particularly affected by challenging market conditions.” Going forward, the company will “focus its efforts on the strategic assets with the best long-term prospects.”

“Since I joined as CEO in the fall of 2023, we have evaluated the current business and the future position of Thunderful,” said Thunderful Group CEO Martin Walfisz said in a statement. “To ensure and strengthen the viability of the Group, we have found no alternative other than to reduce costs and focus the business on areas with the best future growth and profitability prospects. To ensure and strengthen the viability of the Group, we have found no alternative other than to reduce costs and focus the business on areas with the best future growth and profitability prospects. It has been difficult to make these decisions, and it saddens me that we will have to say goodbye to many skilled colleagues and partners. Nevertheless, I am convinced that this is a necessary direction for Thunderful and that these changes will make the company a stronger player in the market.”

Thunderful is hoping that its restructuring program will allow it to “strengthen” its “long-term competitive position”. In addition to staff reductions, as part of its restructuring program, the company will also look into divesting “non-strategic” assets.

Earlier this month, game engine developer Unity announced that it was also laying off 25% of its staff, amounting to roughly 1,800 jobs. More recently, Gearbox Entertainment-owned Lost Boys Interactive also laid off “a sizeable portion” of its workforce amidst widespread layoffs across parent company Embracer Group. Other companies like Discord and Twitch have also already made significant staff reductions in 2024.

At the recent Future Games Show, it was announced that Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is now available on PC via Steam. A PC release of the game was first mentioned by publisher Thunderful Group last year, following which there were no other mentions of it for quite some time, until a PC launch trailer recently went live prematurely (before promptly being taken down). Now, it’s official.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is, like its predecessor (and most games made by Swery65 and his team) a little rough around the edges, so be prepared for that as you go in. You can read our review of the game through here.

Touted as both a prequel and sequel to the original, Deadly Premonition 2 sees players alternating between Agent Davis, who investigates the Le Carré serial murders in the present day and Agent Francis York Morgan who ventures to the town in 2005. Much like the original, players can explore the town, interact with its various citizens and partake in activities like skateboarding, bowling and more.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise originally launched in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch. The reception, both from fans and critics, was mixed due to the technical issues and performance problems. Check out our review here for more details. Stay tuned for more details on the PC release in the coming hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtAXrtJKp6M

Thanks to its sheer eccentricity and the large number of technical issues that pervade Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise (and its predecessor, for that matter), it is by definition a pretty niche game that won’t appeal to the masses. If, however, it does appeal to you and you don’t have a Switch, you’ve been left waiting on the sidelines for this Switch-exclusive title to make its way to other platforms. Well, that wait might be over soon.

Thunderful Group – the parent company of Rising Star Games, who published Deadly Premonition 2 in the west – recently published their annual report, and interestingly enough, among the games they’ve listed for their 2021 release schedule, a Steam version of Deadly Premonition 2 is also mentioned. No specific release date is mentioned, and a PC version of the game hasn’t yet been formally announced, so this comes as a bit of a surprise. Either way, unless this is a mistake, an official announcement should be coming soon.

Currently, Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is available exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can read our review of the game through here.