Prime Matter is Koch Media’s new “premium” gaming label
Koch Media has pulled the lid off its big E3 surprise, and it’s not what you expected. The news isn’t a new game (or not just a new game), but an entirely new publishing label: Prime Matter.
So what is Prime Matter? Well, looking at the titles already confirmed for the publishing label, it’s not immediately apparent what will set its games apart as a unified brand. There’s no genre throughline—Prime Matter will publish shooters, RPGs, tactics, action-adventure, and even RTS games. Among the franchise titles you can expect to see from the publisher are Payday 3 and a new Painkiller, but there’s also plenty of original IP in a variety of settings spanning fantasy, sci fi, and horror.
In addition to 12 games confirmed for debut under the label—which we’ve run down and ranked for you—Prime Matter will also loop in some legacy titles from Koch Media. Future add-on releases for and ports of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Phoenix Point, Wasteland 3, Iron Harvest, Mount & Blade II, and Outward will now be under Prime Matter.
The unifying focus appears to be, for lack of a better term, on “hardcore gamers”—those who value deep, systemic gameplay, regardless of genre.
Of Koch’s current brand labels, most serve an immediately clear purpose. Vertigo handles VR titles, Milestone focuses on racing, and Ravenscourt offers more casual, kid-friendly fare. Koch clearly knows the protean nature of this new label is a bit confusing, thus the branding: A press release defines the name as “matter with no substantial/fixed/pre-defined form of its own.”
According to Koch, the goal of Prime Matter is to support a wide range of development teams through a tailored approach to produce “games by gamers for gamers.”
“It’s about working in harmony with the developers and their visions, and blending these with the 25 years global experience at Koch Media to ensure that the games full potential is realised,” Koch Media CEO Klemens Kundratitz said in a statement. “Each developer is as unique as they are talented. We are delighted to have such a wide and varied creative range of games to offer from AAA to Triple Indie, from all corners of the globe.”
If anything, Prime Matter seems to be butting heads with Deep Silver just a little. That label currently houses the Saints Row, Metro, Dead Island, and Homefront series, and will apparently continue to do so. It’ll be curious to see how the two brands differentiate themselves in the coming years.
For more on Prime Matter, you can check out Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest. The new publisher is part of the kickoff stream today, as well as a dedicated showcase on Friday, June 11th at 12 p.m. PT.
