In June 2024, Offbrand announced Offbrand Games, a video-game publishing arm, and named PirateSoftware’s Jason “Thor” Hall its director of strategy. Its first announced publishing partnership was with Aether Studios for Rivals 2, later released on Steam as Rivals of Aether II.
What Offbrand announced in June 2024
Offbrand CEO and cofounder Nick Allen presented Offbrand Games as a new chapter for the creator-led production company. He said its goal was to deepen ties between creators and game developers and build partnerships that benefit everyone involved. Allen’s launch announcement named Aether Studios as the label’s first partner and PirateSoftware as its director of strategy.
Contemporaneous coverage described Offbrand as a creator-led production company and identified Ludwig Ahgren and Nathan Stanz among its cofounders. GamesBeat’s June 10, 2024 report said the first title was Aether Studios’ sequel to Rivals of Aether. Its then-expected Q4 2024 window was a forecast, not the eventual release date.
What creator-led publishing meant at launch
The launch positioned Offbrand as a link between online creators and game developers: creators could help bring attention and audience connections to games, while the label provided publishing support. Hall’s strategy role and a planned game jam with him, announced for July 17, 2024, were part of that launch-era arrangement. Those details describe the announcement, not necessarily the company’s or Hall’s present roles.
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Offbrand’s current About page describes its model as selective publishing, with a small slate, term-limited publishing agreements, and developers retaining ownership of their intellectual property and freedom to pursue future projects. It also lists services such as press, porting, localization, storefront support, festival participation, quality assurance, playtesting, funding, business development, and community support. These are Offbrand’s stated policies and services; the page does not provide individual contract terms or independently establish how every partnership works in practice.
The page says Offbrand releases three to five titles per year and reports more than $11.8 million in gross revenue, more than 1.4 million wishlists added, and more than 430,000 units sold. The page does not state a reporting period for those figures, so they should be read as company-reported totals rather than year-specific or audited results.
How Aether Studios and Rivals 2 fit in
Aether Studios was the first publishing partner announced under Offbrand Games. The project was Rivals 2, the sequel to Rivals of Aether; Steam lists it as Rivals of Aether II and gives October 23, 2024 as its release date. The current listing is available in Offbrand Games’ Steam publisher catalog.
Aether Studios CEO Dan Fornace praised the value of reaching players in a testimonial hosted on Offbrand’s site. He said traditional publishing services are not right for every developer, but getting a game noticed matters, and described Offbrand’s appeal as helping studios find new players without limiting their potential. That is a partner’s endorsement published by the company, not an independent assessment of publishing outcomes.
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- With broad game support, the Logitech Gamepad F310 works with old standbys to today's biggest titles, so it's easy to set up and use with your favorite games.
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- A familiar control layout that doesn't require a learning curve to be able to use, with all the same buttons as on an Xbox 360.
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What is established about Offbrand’s ownership?
GamesBeat reported in June 2024 that Offbrand had announced plans to become a worker cooperative, under which full-time employees would receive a vote, control, and an equal share of a profit pool. Offbrand’s current About page instead describes it as fully privately owned, without outside investors or quarterly shareholder targets. The available statements do not explain how the present ownership description relates to the earlier cooperative plan, or establish that the planned transition was completed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is PirateSoftware still with Offbrand?
The primary launch announcement confirms Hall’s appointment as director of strategy in June 2024, but the available primary statements do not verify his current relationship with Offbrand. Later secondary reporting has said he left in 2025, but that departure and its reported context are not confirmed by the primary launch-era sources. It is therefore more accurate to describe him as part of Offbrand Games at launch than to state his current status as settled.
Quick Recap
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