Three friends is a new independent games publisher in Sweden thinking small

A team of the veterans of the industry behind them Minecraftand Him and Deep rock I launched an independent publisher Three friends.

It is a small team, but they were here before, as if they were returning to the full days to the days when their big company was a small company.

Stockholm, an Iny publisher in Sweden, focuses on partnership with small north teams, especially in Sweden. The name is already old because it was already postponed by four people: Albert Chancerome, Daniel Kaplan, Sebastian Badillac, Johan Hermeen, they help three friends of developers in improving their basic vision and mechanics, ensuring that their game is creative and commercially life. .

Going small

With a small team, the company can spend more time in each project. Instead of praying and spraying, the team tries to make every project success.

“We hope that we will hit us higher than a person with a wallet strategy,” said Sepstrom. “We are more than difficult to please.”

“There is no secret trick to make a great game – it is not related to one big idea, but about dealing with thousands of small questions along the way,” said Säfström, a founder and producer in three friends. “The right options in time add up, and the formation of the final experience. We are working closely with developers to create an environment in which ideas can mature without drifting, helping the difference to focus their efforts and make the most of their time and resources.”

Three friends are not related to the signature of the largest possible number of games – it relates to each number. By working closely with a few selected teams, they ensure that each project gets practical support, long -term investment, and strategic guidelines for success. By early partnership, it helps developers to improve ideas, sharpen mechanics, and create something really special.

As for the difficulties that Matthew Paul referred to on the chip platform, Säfström said, “I think this industry as a whole is excessive during Covid. We still see the consequences of that. People assumed that all growth curves will continue to expand up and right, as they did during Covid. We see that now.

“It seems as if we went back to time before Covid,” said Kaplan.

Säfström said: “It is not surprising that the games that have succeeded are excellent experiences. For us, with the position in which we are, it allows us to spend more time in every project. Good at the bottom trends.

Kaplan said: “It is easier for us because we are funding the smaller developers and we can maintain small difference for a long time.”

“Publishing is always more attractive because we believe that we can contribute a lot regarding the production of the game than things,” Kaplan said. “One of the reasons why we are abandoning our other jobs because we have finished becoming a larger company. We were only watching when everyone was doing great things. We wanted to participate more in making wonderful things. It is difficult to be direct and very shared when you are in the big company. It seems. It is as if we were five or six years old and we tried to build a small coffee stigma again.

Publishing form

Three Friends Publishing Form is designed on three main principles:

1. Get early, and build it properly – The best games begin with a strong foundation. Three friends participate with the developers early to improve their vision and prepare them for success.
2. Choose the correct battles -I don’t have the Indie’s TRIPLE-A studios. Three friends help them focus on what really makes their game stand out – such as choosing the main survival elements of an abandoned island.
3. Guidance, not control – Great games need a creative vision. Three friends work closely with the developers, play alongside them and provide visions – without taking control.

“We do not believe in a game of marketing or throwing money in problems,” Kaplan, the founder and producer in three friends. “Some of the best Indie games – such as Valheim and Deep Rock Galactic – are in time to improve basic play before expansion. For this reason we share early developers, and help them to know what makes their game distinct so that they can weaken.”

With contracts for experience in support for Indie studios, three friends realize the challenges of providing an independent game to the market. Their practical approach, along with a deep understanding of independent landscapes, guarantees not only the developers to receive funding, but also the strategic support necessary to move in the complex path from concept to release.

Three friends will begin to reveal their first titles signed in the Spring of 2025. For more information, you can follow three friends LinkedIn Or visit the official website here.

The company has signed with six small teams so far, five in Sweden and the other in the United States is the hope of launching and revealing the first title this year.

Assets

Three friends is an independent publisher boutique founded by veterans in industry behind Minecraft, Valheim and Deep Rock Galactic. Its headquarters in Sweden, they focus on helping Swedish developers and North Swedish in the first place to convert strong ideas into prominent games by providing practical guidance, financial support, and the first playing approach to publishing.

Through partnership with the difference early in development, three friends who have time, resources and support guarantees the need to revive them in life.

“We are young in the publisher in Sweden. We are actually, we are actually four people running this three friends.” “I used to run the coffee to publish, and we started spreading coffee in 2016 until the end of 2022 when we started three friends.”

Kaplan works as a business product and developer. He was formerly CEO of Keksake Games and was also at Coffee Stain at first. He left in 2021 and started souvenir games, a small independent game company in Stockholm.

Badylak was also in Coffee Stain from the beginning and left before the team started three friends. The company has a private investor, but it has not yet been revealed.

“We believe that with our background, there is room to focus on these smaller projects where we can be difficult to satisfy about the projects that we take and then work more than the projects from many other publishers,” said Sfestrom.

He said that the team does not necessarily believe that it is sitting on a big vision. Instead, they know that making a good game takes a lot of time and effort.

“We want to give our teams the ability to explore or cook their game, to make something really special,” said Sfestrom. “It is also not a single person with this idea of ​​silver lead that takes a project from Good to Great. A lot of water, eat your vegetables and go on foot.

“It is very important for us that they are still making their own games, but we are acting as cakes, balances and someone who wears ideas to know that we can find the best version of the game they want to make.”

The company will focus on the Swedish and wonderful northern markets in terms of difference. But if you find a great game, you will work with this team regardless of where it is. The founders have historically achieved a lot of success in the early arrival of Steam, and they know the Steam platform well.

“So we focus on the games that will flourish in the early arrival market,” said Badillac. “So we do not focus on keyboards, mobile phone, Blockchain, etc., that is, from that space.”

Säfström said that the company may lead its games on keyboards as well, but the computer is the primary goal. It is unlikely to work on mobile games.

Hustle trends? no.

The team does not oppose Blockchain, but they focus on playing first and have not seen any stadiums yet as Blockchain is a vital component.

“Most of the time, it seems to be a person chasing the direction. This is not something we did. We haven’t seen any features as Blockchain was combined in a way that enhances the game.”

Säfström added, “We haven’t seen anything there raising us in Blockchain.”

Development of artificial intelligence game?

As for Amnesty International games, Kaplan said the team is hesitant. The star developer may improve with artificial intelligence tools. But the average developer may not benefit much. If the tools become good in promoting productivity, it makes the small team better and more satisfactory. Sephstrom said it is still the first days of artificial intelligence tools to make a change in productivity.

“There are many people in the industry who are afraid of the jobs that are transferred,” Kaplan said. “We are in a position that people can try these different models and find errors. We are working with really small teams and we are proud that we are completely disintegrated. If we can find a really good tool that can help us, as it is improved in the game, we believe it is at the end Today, it comes to what the players are playing when they play the game that will make the team.

“We are pragmatic in this sense. Whatever it improves the player’s experience – this is something we will definitely evaluate.” “We come from the computer background.”

“We are also trying to look forward. We see these truly strong engines, for example, able to present realistic scenes. Imagine you are able to do this with a really small team.” “But today I look like thinking in two or three years, believing that such a ribbon will raise the tape, and because it is a nice -looking game that will not be great in a year or two. Therefore, we believe that strong basic play is more important.”

Regarding the issue of artificial intelligence, Säfström said that the smaller difference will be able to use it in a non -intended manner to explore many concepts with light movement.

“This is a feature like us because it is. If you know the M, if you have a symphony orchestra and one person can play this piece of Mozart in three minutes. How long does it take a symphony orchestra enemy? Well, it takes the same time. If you have a team Really big, it becomes very expensive to do this exploration. So you are somewhat due to what we have proven and our size allows us to explore a lot and we hope to find some interesting new reasons.