Secret Mode is currently beaming with optimism. After parting ways with Sumo Digital and its parent company Tencent last year, the newly independent UK publisher has been on a rapid ascent. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz at Gamescom, Chief Publishing Officer James Schall highlighted that the company has experienced "phenomenal growth" over the past 18 months. He explained that the team had drafted a roadmap extending to 2030, only to crush those targets within roughly four months.
Schall noted that the split from Sumo, facilitated by fresh capital from Emona Capital, proceeded smoothly, and that Tencent proved "very helpful" throughout the transition. "I was stunned by how swiftly the deal was concluded, freeing us from Sumo, and how positive the whole experience has been for everyone involved," he said. The separation made strategic sense for both parties.
Schall recalled that after Tencent acquired Sumo in early 2022, the Chinese conglomerate began evaluating its sprawling portfolio, realizing it did not need "18 different publishers" under its umbrella. This aligns with comments from Tencent’s Yong‑yi Zhu to GamesIndustry.biz, who explained that the firm is pruning its holdings to focus on companies that match its long‑term vision. So what is Secret Mode’s new direction?
According to Schall and CEO Ed Blincoe, the publisher is building around two distinct pillars: "pure indie" projects on one hand, and higher‑budget, IP‑driven games such as Star Wars: Galactic Racer on the other. The belief is that by backing quality titles across the spectrum, the company can carve out a sustainable niche. Schall emphasized how difficult discoverability has become.
"In today’s market, selling a mediocre game is almost impossible, and even a very good game faces an uphill battle. There is no easy answer anymore, no playbook. You have to make the right choices and hope luck is on your side," he observed.
One of those choices is to double‑down on games that have already shown promise but still have untapped potential. Secret Mode has placed a sizeable wager on Star Wars: Galactic Racer, slated for release on 6 October. Schall described the game's wish‑list numbers as "phenomenal," while Blincoe recalled playing the early build more than a year ago and being impressed by its continued improvement. The title is being developed by the newly formed UK studio Fuse Games, and Secret Mode secured the publishing rights at the end of September last year after convincing Emona Capital of its viability.
"We walked in and said we had this opportunity and needed to figure out funding – they helped us map that out," Schall explained. The publisher’s other big‑budget bets take a different shape.
Secret Mode has assumed publishing responsibilities for Fancy Games' Escape the Backrooms, which entered Early Access in 2022, and for Anegar Games' 2024 release Chained Together. Schall argues that co‑op experiences like these—what he calls "friendslop" titles—appeal to a generation that grew up during the pandemic, spending hours on Twitch and other live‑stream platforms with their peers. "You can either hope it goes viral for a few weeks, or you can iterate, add content, and keep the community engaged long‑term," he said.
Blincoe added that Secret Mode is not merely publishing these games but also overseeing their ongoing development through trusted partners. External studio Blackbird Interactive has been polishing Escape the Backrooms for some time, and Secret Mode has launched its own internal development studio in Sheffield to produce additional content for these titles.
"Both games move a solid number of units each month and fund their own development," he noted. "New players keep joining, and the existing community craves fresh updates, so we’re committed to delivering that." This approach mirrors a growing "caretaker development" model in the industry, where third‑party studios take the reins of existing IPs when original developers move on, ensuring the games remain alive. French studio Evil Empire, for example, recently assumed content creation for the popular indie title Brotato and is actively scouting other projects to support. Schall sees a wealth of opportunity with developers who have already tasted success but feel constrained—whether by creative fatigue, demanding communities, or financial comfort.
"They might want to step back, explore new ideas, and we help them reset, rediscover their passion, and handle the publishing side. It’s challenging, but we have the expertise and network to make it happen," he said. Secret Mode has dealt with similar situations before.
Schall cited Wobbledogs, created by Tom Astle, which was stuck in Early Access with only a handful of artists. "We stepped in, released it, and gave Tom the freedom to pursue something entirely different," he recalled. Today, the focus is increasingly on the long tail of a game’s lifecycle rather than a single launch spike.
Schall, who spent 13 years at Sega, observed that many titles never peak on day one but instead grow steadily over months or years. "There are games that launch with modest sales and, six months later, become highly profitable. The key is finding that audience, even if the algorithm initially overlooks them," he explained.
Discoverability remains a major headache. Schall admitted that sometimes success boils down to luck—perhaps an influencer discovers a title and shares it. "The algorithm pushes what everyone else is playing, making it hard to break through.
That keeps me up at night," he confessed. The old publishing playbook—preview to press, massive launch marketing, then move on—no longer works.
Schall pointed out that a teenager can upload a game to Roblox or itch.io and amass millions of players without any publisher support. "Many of these creators don’t even know what a publisher is, yet they’re building massive successes and disrupting the industry," he said. Consequently, Secret Mode is scouting for opportunities among these youthful, disruptive projects, especially as visual fidelity becomes less of a differentiator.
After years of chasing photorealism, the market is shifting toward fun and distinctive style. "We should prioritize fun first," Schall asserted, noting that while high‑budget spectacles like Star Wars: Galactic Racer will remain valuable, there’s room for vector‑graphics, 2D, or wildly inventive experiences that simply entertain. In summary, Secret Mode is betting on two very different pillars: big‑budget, IP‑heavy games built by sizable teams, and tiny indie experiments such as Everything is Crab. It remains to be seen which side will dominate the company’s future.
Schall says the publisher will still evaluate larger titles if they appear promising—"we’ll run the numbers and decide." Blincoe, however, urges caution, emphasizing the need to keep Secret Mode a "stable ship" before over‑committing. "We’ll watch how our current slate performs, see where Star Wars lands, and then decide our next moves," he concluded.