Firefly, best known for its Stronghold series, has taken its next step in the games industry by creating a publishing label dedicated to strategy games. The new imprint, called Wuselfaktory, made its debut at the UKIE "For One Night Only" showcase earlier this year with the announcement of its first third‑party project, Fool King.
Fool King is the brainchild of first‑time developer Loot Donkey and is billed as a tactical autobattler that blends roguelike elements with strategic army placement, allowing players to set up their forces before the AI runs the combat automatically. Nick Tannahill, the studio head, acknowledges that many indie studios are now exploring publishing as a natural extension of their existing operations.
"It’s something every indie developer is looking at these days," he told GamesIndustry.biz, but he believes Firefly’s long‑standing experience with strategy titles gives it a distinct advantage. The company has spent years polishing deep, systems‑driven games, from the classic Stronghold titles to more recent 2.5D and full‑3D projects, and that pedigree positions Wuselfaktory to thrive in a genre that consistently ranks among the top‑selling categories on Steam. Wuselfaktory’s approach with Fool King is a hybrid model.
Firefly is providing the development funding and handling the marketing push, while its parent company Devolver has assigned a producer to oversee localisation and quality assurance. Tannahill notes that as the publishing arm matures, the studio intends to bring those localisation and QA responsibilities in‑house, leveraging its existing team of around fifty staff members. "We already run a small publishing operation for our own games, so we have the workflows, the relationships with platform holders, and the localisation pipelines in place," he explains. The studio’s decades‑long focus on strategy also means it can offer hands‑on development support.
"One of the real benefits a publisher can bring is that we’ve been on the other side of the table – we know how negotiations work, we have the contacts, and we can also help with actual development tasks," Tannahill says. For Fool King, Firefly has been consulting on user‑interface design, providing feedback on core gameplay loops, and assisting with the game's asynchronous multiplayer component. While these interactions consume time that could be spent on Firefly’s own projects, the team believes that a single hour of focused discussion can accelerate a partner’s development timeline dramatically.
The decision to move into publishing was encouraged by Devolver, which recognised its own gaps in the strategy market. "After we acquired Firefly in late 2021, Devolver basically said, ‘You know strategy better than we do – why don’t you fill that void?’" Tannahill recounts. This endorsement gave Firefly the confidence to scout promising indie titles. In fact, the studio discovered Fool King after reading a feature on Rock Paper Shotgun, illustrating how closely the team follows emerging strategy releases on platforms like Steam and Itch.io for inspiration.
Firefly’s deep immersion in the strategy community informs its marketing strategy as well. Devolver hands over the responsibility for press outreach, influencer partnerships, and community engagement to Firefly, trusting that the studio’s existing connections are far more relevant than any internal knowledge Devolver might have.
"Strategy fans speak a particular language, and we’ve spent years learning it," Tannahill notes. The studio even embeds short surveys into every demo it releases, asking players about pricing expectations, desired features, and future game ideas. These questionnaires routinely generate around 6,000 responses, providing a robust data set that guides design decisions and helps the team understand its audience.
One surprising insight from that data is the youthfulness of the strategy audience. "We expected an older demographic, but the numbers show a strong contingent of 18‑ to 25‑year‑olds," Tannahill says. To reach these younger players, Firefly focuses on the social platforms they frequent, aiming to keep the brand visible and attract fresh fans to its IPs.
The studio believes that nurturing this demographic is crucial for the long‑term health of the genre. Despite its size, Firefly sees the strategy market as both vast and under‑served. When you scan the most wish‑listed games on Steam, a significant portion are strategy titles, yet many classic franchises have faded from the spotlight.
"My favourite childhood game was Command & Conquer, but it’s barely mentioned anymore—not because the brand lacks appeal, but because new entries haven’t been built," Tannahill observes. He views this gap as an opportunity, especially as other high‑profile genres encounter headwinds.
"Strategy isn’t flashy, but it quietly dominates Steam’s sales. While Roblox balloons and consoles face challenges, Steam remains a strong home for deep, systems‑driven experiences," he adds. The appeal of strategy games lies in their replayability and the emergent stories that arise from player choices. Players can sit for hours tweaking unit placements, experimenting with different tactics, and watching how small variations lead to wildly different outcomes.
This depth is what draws publishers like Hooded Horse into the space, recognising a massive, engaged audience hungry for high‑quality titles. Firefly’s own development slate reflects a diversified strategy portfolio.
The studio continues to produce 2.5D isometric games reminiscent of early Command & Conquer and Age of Empires, while also working on fully 3D projects such as Stronghold 4. The resurgence of pixel‑perfect, isometric visuals has proven popular, but the team remains cautious about over‑committing to any single style. "You want to spread your bets across the genre without putting all your eggs in one basket," Tannahill explains.
Wuselfaktory, at present, represents a single external title—Fool King—but the label is designed to grow organically. Since joining Devolver, Firefly has shipped four games and six expansions, with additional projects in the pipeline. Third‑party publishing will be integrated into that schedule as capacity allows. "We won’t announce a publishing arm and then flood the market with dozens of titles; we can only spin so many plates at once," Tannahill cautions.
The focus will remain on smaller, manageable releases that align with the studio’s resources and sustain a healthy workflow. In summary, Firefly’s launch of Wuselfaktory signals a strategic pivot that leverages its deep expertise in strategy game design, its established community relationships, and its willingness to support indie developers through funding, marketing, and hands‑on development assistance. By doing so, the studio aims to nurture a thriving ecosystem for a genre that, while not always in the limelight, consistently delivers strong performance on Steam and offers rich, replayable experiences for a growing, youthful audience.