Firefly, the studio best recognised for the Stronghold series, has taken its next step into publishing by unveiling a new label dedicated to strategy games, called Wuselfaktory. The label’s first offering, Fool King, was showcased at UKIE’s For One Night Only event earlier this year. Fool King is the brainchild of first‑time developer Loot Donkey and describes itself as a tactical autobattler with a roguelike twist – players assemble and position their forces, then watch the combat resolve automatically.
Nick Tannahill, head of Firefly, admits that moving into publishing is “something every indie studio is considering these days,” but he argues that the company’s long‑standing expertise in strategy gives it a distinct advantage in a genre that consistently ranks among the most lucrative on PC. While veteran publishers such as Paradox Interactive and newer entrants like Hooded Horse have already proven the viability of the space, Wuselfaktory plans to operate on a more modest scale, focusing on a limited number of titles and a narrower scope for each project. For Fool King, Firefly is providing the development funding and handling the marketing push, while its parent group Devolver has assigned a producer to oversee localisation and quality assurance.
Tannahill notes that, as the label matures, Firefly intends to bring those localisation and QA responsibilities in‑house, leveraging its existing team of roughly 50 staff members. “We already run a small publishing operation, which is why we can do this,” he explains. The studio’s publishing experience dates back to 2010, when it began self‑publishing its own games.
Over the years it has refined workflows for localisation, marketing, and platform relations, and it has cultivated strong ties with the various storefronts and distribution partners it works with. More importantly, Firefly has spent decades building and supporting strategy titles, meaning it can also lend development assistance to its partners. "One of the real benefits a publisher can bring is that we’ve been on the other side of the table – negotiating deals, managing relationships – and we can also roll up our sleeves and help with actual development tasks," Tannahill says. He cites concrete examples from the Fool King partnership: the studio has consulted on the game’s user interface, offered multiple rounds of feedback on core mechanics, and provided guidance on its asynchronous multiplayer component.
While such support consumes time that could be spent on Firefly’s own projects, Tannahill believes a single hour of focused conversation can dramatically accelerate a partner’s schedule and improve the final product. The decision to venture into publishing was sparked by Devolver, which recognised its own gaps in the strategy market. "We were acquired by Devolver in late 2021, and they basically said, ‘You know strategy inside out – we don’t, so why don’t you fill that void,’" Tannahill recounts.
The studio’s constant monitoring of emerging strategy titles also positioned it well to spot promising indie projects; in fact, Tannahill first learned about Fool King through a Rock Paper Shotgun article. Playing smaller, experimental titles is a habit for Tannahill, who uses them as a source of inspiration for future Stronghold entries.
"I browse tiny Steam or itch.io releases to keep my brain fresh and to spark ideas for new games," he says. When he encounters a game he likes, he wonders whether the developer could benefit from funding, mentorship, or partnership opportunities – exactly the kind of support Wuselfaktory aims to provide. Devolver is comfortable delegating both sourcing and marketing to Firefly because the latter has a deeper understanding of the strategy community. "Devolver doesn’t have the same network of press contacts, content creators, and niche sub‑genre communities that we do," Tannahill explains.
In a genre where the audience expects developers to “speak their language,” that insider knowledge is essential. To stay close to its fans, Firefly embeds short surveys into every demo it releases, asking players how much they’d be willing to pay, which features they’d like to see, and what future games they’d prefer. "We get around 6,000 responses per survey, which gives us a solid data set to guide our decisions," Tannahill notes. The feedback has revealed a surprisingly young player base: a significant portion of the audience falls between 18 and 25 years old.
Consequently, the studio tailors its outreach to the platforms and social channels where that demographic spends time, hoping to draw fresh eyes to its IPs and to the broader strategy genre. Tannahill sees the strategy space as both vast and under‑served.
He points out that many of the most wish‑listed games on Steam are strategy titles, yet classic franchises like Command & Conquer have faded from the spotlight, not because the intellectual property lacks appeal, but because few new entries have been produced. "That gap is an opportunity," he says, especially as other high‑profile genres encounter headwinds. "Strategy isn’t the flashiest genre any more, but it quietly dominates Steam’s sales," Tannahill observes.
In a gaming landscape increasingly dominated by titles like Roblox and a console market that faces its own challenges, deep, systems‑driven games that reward long, thoughtful sessions remain highly attractive to a dedicated audience. Publishers such as Hooded Horse have recently discovered just how large that market can be. Firefly itself is diversifying within the strategy umbrella: it continues to publish its own titles, creates retro‑style 2.5D isometric games reminiscent of early Command & Conquer or Age of Empires, and develops fully 3D experiences like Stronghold 4. While the current wave of 2.5D pixel‑perfect aesthetics is popular, the studio remains cautious about over‑committing to any single trend.
"You want to spread your bets, but you don’t want too many eggs in one basket," Tannahill cautions. Wuselfaktory presently represents a single, modestly sized project, but the label could expand to a handful of additional releases as the team’s capacity allows. Since joining Devolver, Firefly has shipped four games and six expansions, with more in the pipeline. Third‑party publishing is part of the long‑term plan, yet the studio acknowledges the need to fit new titles into an already busy schedule.
"We won’t announce a publishing arm and then flood the market with three big releases at once – we can only spin so many plates," Tannahill concludes. "We’ll start with smaller titles, work in lean teams, and keep the operation sustainable – that’s what matters most."