Warner Picks Up Supergiant's Indie Game Bastion

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment said Thursday it would publish Supergiant Games' independently-developed action role-playing title Bastion, due to release on Xbox Live Arcade this summer. Bastion is Supergiant's debut title, and features a dynamic narrative that features lead character "The Kid," the survivor of a cataclysmic event who is trying to piece a world back together. Warner said the publishing deal is part of its efforts to continue expansion into the digital video gaming market. San Jose-based Supergiant debuted in 2010, and was founded by former EALA developers Amir Rao and Gavin Simon. They're also joined by creative director Greg Kasavin, previously a long-time video game journalist, who works as part of Supergiant's six-person team, which works out of a living room. Bastion was nominated at this year's Independent Games Festival for excellence in visual art for its striking, hand-painted environments, as well as excellence in audio. A PC version of the action-RPG is also in the works and due to release later this year, with other versions possible if the demand is there, Supergiant said. Rao added in a statement, "Warner Bros. instantly saw the potential of our original game world and narrative style, and is providing Supergiant Games with the support and autonomy we need to make Bastion an amazing experience." He also told Gamasutra in a recent interview, "The concept for Bastion was extremely minimal and the parts that actually make it special evolved over nine months of prototyping. The original seed was based on our love for RPG towns: those moments of downtime, commerce, and preparation in between all the action elements." The game will be playable at this week's Boston-based PAX East at the WBIE and Supergiant Booths.