In a new interview with Games Industry.biz, the devs at games startup Popularium revealed plans to expand the team and release a Chaos Agents public alpha.
Popularium was co-founded by World of Warcraft and Hearthstone veteran Jon Bankard, Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield, and former Xbox Live manager Arka Ray.
The studio just earned $2 million in seed money. Arka Ray said that “this funding will help us expand the team to bring in more support for managing our growing community”.
Popularium is currently working on its superhero-themed debut title, Chaos Agents. The gameplay will blend the Battle Royale genre with auto-battling mechanics. The superheroes will be unique to each player.
The Battle Royale genre is ramping up lately, with a variety of new titles revealed this month. Just recently, gameplay leaked from Sonic Toys Party, and World of Warcraft surprised fans with a Plunderstorm BR event.
Arka Ray added during today’s interview that Popularium plans to “launch the Chaos Agents public alpha in the summer”. Chaos Agents previously held a pre-alpha playtest late last year. However, the devs did not confirm an exact release date for the new public alpha.
Popularium is currently aiming for a 2025 release. So, the public alpha may not feature all of the content coming at full release.
However, the devs appear very confident after securing their seed money. Now that Popularium will expand its startup team, Chaos Agents will surely remain on track. It could also signal when the next games are coming.
Ray said in the interview that Popularium will “develop games that push the boundaries of innovation of game design and economics”. The devs plan to make “a series of games, along with a custom-built cloud gaming engine”.
For more of the latest Insider Gaming news, you can read about a new leak showing future XDefiant season content and a battle pass.
