Firefly, best known for its Stronghold series, has taken its next step into publishing by unveiling a new label dedicated to strategy games, called Wuselfaktory. The debut title for the imprint, Fool King, was showcased during UKIE’s For One Night Only event earlier this year. Fool King comes from Loot Donkey, a newcomer to development, and bills itself as a "tactical autobattler" with a roguelike flavor: players assemble and position their forces, then watch automated battles resolve. Nick Tannahill, the head of Firefly, tells GamesIndustry.biz that the decision to become a publisher mirrors what many indie studios are doing right now.
However, he argues that Firefly’s long‑standing expertise in strategy gives it a distinct advantage in a genre that consistently ranks among the most lucrative on PC. While heavyweight publishers such as Paradox and newer entrants like Hooded Horse have already proved the market’s depth, Wuselfaktory aims to operate on a more modest scale, both in terms of the number of releases and the breadth of each project. For Fool King, Firefly is providing the financial backing and marketing muscle, while its parent company Devolver has assigned a producer to oversee localisation and quality assurance. Tannahill notes that as the label matures, the studio intends to bring those localisation and QA responsibilities in‑house, leveraging its existing team of roughly fifty staff members.
"We already run a small publishing operation," he says, "so we have the processes in place to handle it." Firefly’s publishing pedigree stretches back to 2010, when the studio began self‑publishing its own titles. Over the years it has built a full localisation pipeline, a marketing workflow, and strong relationships with platform holders such as Steam and Epic. More importantly, the company has spent decades crafting strategy experiences, which allows it to provide development assistance beyond the usual publisher‑to‑developer hand‑holding.
"One of the real benefits we bring as a publisher is that we’ve been on the other side of the table," Tannahill explains. "We understand negotiations, we have the contacts, and we can also dive into the actual development work when needed." Firefly is already offering that support to Loot Donkey. The studio runs three online titles, and because Fool King includes an asynchronous auto‑battler component, the developers can schedule calls with Firefly’s team to discuss networking, UI design, and overall game balance. "We’ve given them several rounds of feedback on the core game and on the user interface," Tannahill says.
"Those conversations may be brief, but they can dramatically accelerate the development timeline and smooth out potential issues." The move into publishing was encouraged by Devolver, which recognised its own limited experience in the strategy sector. "We were acquired by Devolver in late 2021," Tannahill recalls.
"They basically said, ‘You know strategy inside‑out; we don’t, so why don’t you lead that space.’" The studio’s constant monitoring of upcoming strategy releases also helped it spot Fool King, which Tannahill discovered through a Rock Paper Shotgun article. Playing smaller strategy titles on Steam and itch.io is a habit for Tannahill, who says it keeps his creative muscles flexed for future Stronghold projects. "I love digging into tiny indie experiments; they spark ideas for larger games," he notes.
"When I see a promising concept, I think about how we could help the developers with funding, guidance, or partnership opportunities." Devolver trusts Firefly to handle both sourcing and marketing because the latter lacks deep connections within the strategy community. "They know we have better relationships with the press, content creators, and the niche audiences that exist across the many sub‑genres," Tannahill says.
In a genre where the audience "requires you to speak the language," those connections are essential. Firefly maintains a close dialogue with its fans by embedding short surveys in every demo it releases. Players are asked how much they would be willing to pay, which features they want, and what future games they’d like to see. "We get around 6,000 responses each time," Tannahill shares, "which gives us a solid sample to guide our decisions." Analyzing that data revealed an unexpectedly youthful demographic.
The studio’s audience skews heavily toward the 18‑25 age range, prompting Firefly to meet those players where they congregate—on platforms like TikTok, Discord, and Reddit—to keep them engaged with the Stronghold IP and other upcoming projects. Tannahill believes the strategy genre is both massive and under‑served. "If you look at the top‑hundred‑plus wish‑listed games on Steam, a huge proportion are strategy titles," he observes. Yet many classic franchises have faded from the spotlight.
"Command & Conquer was a personal favorite growing up, but it’s no longer relevant, not because the IP lacks appeal, but because there haven’t been fresh entries." He sees this gap as an opportunity, especially as other high‑profile genres encounter headwinds. "Strategy isn’t the flashiest genre anymore, but it quietly dominates Steam’s sales," Tannahill says. "While Roblox expands and consoles face challenges, Steam remains a strong platform for deep, systems‑driven games that reward long play sessions and emergent gameplay." The label’s first release is just the beginning.
Firefly continues to diversify its own portfolio, producing 2.5D isometric titles reminiscent of early Command & Conquer and Age of Empires, as well as fully 3D projects like Stronghold 4. The resurgence of pixel‑perfect isometric aesthetics is evident, but the studio is cautious not to put all its eggs in one basket. Wuselfaktory currently represents a single small "egg"—Fool King—but the team hopes to add a few more over time.
Since joining Devolver, Firefly has shipped four games and six expansions, with additional projects in the pipeline. Third‑party publishing will be part of the long‑term plan, but it must fit within the studio’s capacity.
"We can’t announce a label and instantly have three titles ready; we can only spin so many plates," Tannahill admits. "Initially we’ll focus on smaller titles that our lean teams can sustain, and that’s the most sensible approach for now."