PUBG, Hi-Fi Rush, and Subnautica 2 owner Krafton has bought another hit indie game, this time by snatching up budding ARPG Last Epoch and its developer Eleventh Hour Games.
Eleventh Hour Games founder Judd Cobler announced as much in a new forum post where he explained that the company had been "vetting potential partners over the last year, and we've finally found the right one to empower our studio and help us complete our mission."
"With this partnership we will have the opportunity and resources to execute on our goal of creating the very best ARPG in the genre," Cobler continued. The studio apparently spoke with "dozens" of potential suitors but landed with Krafton because it's seemingly "aligned in helping us achieve our goals" and can allow the devs to "deliver things we've only dreamed of previously and I'm excited to share details on those at a later date."
Cobler also took a second to reminisce on the journey so far, remembering how the game, which millions have now enjoyed, started "as an after-hours passion project in 2017 where I took to Reddit to form a group of ARPG obsessed enthusiasts in the pursuit of making 'The Next Great ARPG'."
The early team would apparently work on Last Epoch after their day jobs via Discord, hence the studio's name. A successful Kickstarter campaign and an even bigger early access launch later, Last Epoch had a similarly huge 1.0 release in 2024.
"Although we have created something now enjoyed by millions, we are far from done with our mission. While we've done well punching above our weight, we know that to truly execute on creating the absolute best ARPG experience available it will require continuing our aggressive growth of the last 7 years. We are no strangers to growth as EHG has gone from me, with zero funding working out of my kitchen (easy access to late-night snacks) to a team of over 100 amazing people working on the game," Cobler said, before plugging Last Epoch's third season due on August 21.
The acquisition comes at an unusual time for Krafton, which is currently embroiled in a contentious lawsuit filed by the former leadership of another ex-indie game it acquired. Subnautica 2's leads alleged that Krafton knowingly sabotaged the sequel's early access launch to avoid paying the team its promised $250 million bonus, while the publisher claims the game's leadership had been neglecting the project. Hopefully, Last Epoch has a slightly smoother tenure under the company.
For now, here are the best RPGs to sink your teeth into right now.
