Curve Games has announced a strategic partnership with the independent studio Wayfinder Studios to bring the online cooperative role‑playing game Wyldheart to a wider audience. This collaboration marks a significant step for both companies, combining Curve Games' publishing expertise with Wayfinder's creative vision. Stuart Dinsey, the chief executive of Curve Games, explained that the firm is actively seeking to back bold, distinctive projects and talented indie developers. He described Wyldheart as a prime illustration of the type of innovative experience Curve wants to champion moving forward.
By joining forces with Wayfinder, Curve aims to provide the resources and market reach needed to elevate the game beyond its current scope. The partnership is also positioned as the next phase of Curve Games' broader roadmap, which gained momentum after the company was acquired by Nazara Technologies in May of the previous year for £21.7 million.
The acquisition gave Curve a stronger financial foundation, enabling it to pursue larger‑scale publishing deals such as this one. Wayfinder Studios, based in Sweden, was founded in 2020 by a group of industry veterans who previously worked at EA DICE. The founding team includes former creative director Dennis Brännvall, former studio director Fia Tjernberg, and other DICE alumni such as Manne Ederyd and Adam Clark.
Their collective experience in AAA development informs Wyldheart’s design, even though the game itself targets a more niche, community‑driven market. Wyldheart, Wayfinder’s debut title, has already generated considerable interest.
On Steam, the game has amassed over 375,000 wishlists, indicating strong demand from players eager for a fresh cooperative RPG experience. Additionally, the project secured €248,000 through a Kickstarter campaign, demonstrating that the community is willing to financially back the development of a game that promises something different from mainstream releases. "We've been incredibly fortunate with the response to Wyldheart so far, and finding the right partner to help us build on that momentum was really important to us," said Dennis Brännvall, Wayfinder’s co‑founder. He emphasized that Curve Games quickly grasped the core vision behind Wyldheart, the target audience, and the studio’s long‑term aspirations.
Brännvall added that having Curve on board gives Wayfinder confidence as they move the title into its next developmental chapter. Fia Tjernberg, another co‑founder, previously explained to GamesIndustry.biz that Wayfinder deliberately chose to work within a genre that has seen relatively little innovation in recent years.
She noted that many developers who have spent their careers on AAA titles often find themselves constrained by fan expectations that favor familiarity over experimentation. "Pretty much all of us have worked at AAA, where the fanbase doesn't really want innovation. They want familiar, they want what they are used to from other games," Tjernberg remarked. Despite that background, Wayfinder is aiming to push boundaries within the cooperative RPG space.
Their vision for Wyldheart centers on creating persistent worlds that feel intimate and player‑driven, rather than massive, anonymous servers typical of large‑scale MMOs. The team envisions private servers where a small group of friends can explore, quest, and build together—much like a personal Minecraft or Valheim instance, but with a deeper role‑playing framework. "We are interested in persistent worlds and MMOs, but with private servers, where it's just you and your community enjoying this. It's not a massive thing with 10,000 people on a shard; it's your own personal Minecraft or Valheim server, game‑structure wise," Tjernberg explained.
This approach aligns with a growing trend among gamers who prefer tighter, more controlled community experiences over the anonymity of huge multiplayer ecosystems. The collaboration with Curve Games is expected to enhance Wyldheart’s development pipeline in several key areas.
Curve will provide marketing support, distribution channels across multiple platforms, and guidance on live‑service operations. In turn, Wayfinder will retain creative control, ensuring that the game’s core design philosophy remains true to its original concept.
Looking ahead, both companies are optimistic about the potential impact of Wyldheart on the cooperative RPG market. By blending high‑quality production values with a focus on community‑centric gameplay, the title could set a new benchmark for indie‑driven multiplayer experiences. The partnership also illustrates how larger publishers are increasingly looking to nurture innovative indie projects, offering them the backing needed to reach a global audience while preserving the unique creative spark that defines them.
In summary, Curve Games' partnership with Wayfinder Studios represents a mutually beneficial alliance: Curve gains a promising, genre‑defying title for its portfolio, while Wayfinder receives the publishing muscle required to turn Wyldheart from a well‑liked prototype into a fully realized, widely accessible game. The collaboration underscores a broader industry shift toward supporting smaller studios that aim to innovate within established genres, delivering fresh experiences to players hungry for something beyond the conventional AAA fare.