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Fictions
April 29, 2026 at 04:12 PM
Added 1 screenshot (2026-04-29)
Fictions is a video game publisher formed in mid-2025 by former Annapurna Interactive employees. The company emerged from one of the gaming industry's most dramatic sequences of corporate upheaval: the mass resignation of Annapurna Interactive's entire staff, the sale of Take-Two's Private Division label, and a deal brokered by a private equity firm that brought the ex-Annapurna veterans into control of the Private Division portfolio, which included Beast of Reincarnation, then known as "Project Bloom."
Fictions is the publisher for Beast of Reincarnation's final release, replacing Private Division, which was the original publishing partner when Game Freak announced the project in May 2023.
The formation of Fictions is the result of two separate but interconnected events in the gaming industry that occurred in late 2024.
In September 2024, the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive resigned from the company following disagreements with its owner, Megan Ellison. Annapurna Interactive had been one of the most respected indie game publishing labels in the industry, known for championing critically acclaimed titles with strong artistic visions. The mass departure of every employee was an unprecedented event that sent shockwaves through the gaming industry.
The departing staff were experienced publishing veterans who had spent years building Annapurna Interactive's reputation for quality curation and developer-friendly publishing practices. Their collective departure left them with extensive industry connections, deep publishing expertise, and a shared desire to continue the work they had been doing, but without a company to do it through.
In November 2024, just two months after the Annapurna exodus, Take-Two Interactive sold its indie publishing label Private Division to Haveli Investments, an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm. Private Division had published titles like The Outer Worlds and Kerbal Space Program, and its portfolio included Game Freak's "Project Bloom" (the working title for Beast of Reincarnation) along with several other in-development games.
Haveli Investments saw an opportunity to combine two complementary pieces: a publishing portfolio in need of experienced leadership, and a group of experienced publishing veterans in need of a company. Haveli struck a deal with the former Annapurna Interactive staff to fund a new entity and place them in charge of the Private Division portfolio. This entity became Fictions.
Fictions is composed of staff from three distinct backgrounds, creating a team with unusually diverse experience for a newly formed company:
Staff Group | Details |
|---|---|
Former Annapurna Interactive Employees | The core of the company. These are the publishing veterans who resigned from Annapurna in September 2024. They bring extensive experience in developer relations, game curation, marketing, and the specialized skills required to publish indie and mid-tier games successfully. |
Former Private Division Staff | Employees from Take-Two's indie label who transitioned to Fictions when Haveli acquired the portfolio. They bring institutional knowledge of the existing projects, including Beast of Reincarnation, and the operational infrastructure needed to manage an active publishing slate. |
Industry Veterans | Key individual hires including Greg Rice, who previously worked at Double Fine Productions and PlayStation Indies. Rice's experience spanning first-party publishing (PlayStation) and acclaimed indie studios (Double Fine) adds additional depth to Fictions' collective expertise. |
Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier confirmed the composition of the company and the details of the deal structure, lending credibility to what might otherwise seem like an improbable corporate formation story.
Fictions has announced or released the following titles:
Beast of Reincarnation (Game Freak). AAA action RPG releasing August 4, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Day one on Xbox Game Pass. The game was originally announced under Private Division as "Project Bloom" in May 2023 and transferred to Fictions when the company inherited the portfolio.
LEGO Party Announced at Summer Game Fest 2025. One of the first titles revealed under the Fictions banner.
Beast of Reincarnation's publishing journey has been unusually complex. The game was first announced on May 9, 2023 as "Project Bloom" under Private Division, Take-Two's indie publishing label. At that time, Private Division was a fully operational division of one of the largest gaming companies in the world. Less than 18 months later, the entire publishing infrastructure around the game had changed. Private Division was sold, its portfolio transferred to a new owner, and a brand-new company formed specifically to manage it.
Despite this corporate upheaval, the transition from Private Division to Fictions did not appear to disrupt Beast of Reincarnation's development. Game Freak continued development throughout the corporate changes, and the game was revealed under the Fictions banner at the Xbox Games show on June 8, 2025, complete with its final title, first gameplay trailer, and platform confirmations. The game then appeared at the Xbox Developer Direct in January 2026 and received its release date at the State of Play in February 2026, all under Fictions' publishing umbrella.
Fictions' formation is part of broader trends in the gaming industry circa 2024-2025: consolidation among major publishers, instability in indie publishing labels, and the increasing importance of experienced publishing teams who understand how to support developers without imposing corporate demands that conflict with creative vision.
The fact that the entire Annapurna Interactive staff resigned rather than continuing under conditions they found unacceptable (and then successfully formed a new company within months) speaks to the value of publishing expertise in the current market. That they ended up publishing a Game Freak title (a studio they likely never expected to work with during their Annapurna days) demonstrates how unpredictable the industry's trajectory has become.
For Beast of Reincarnation specifically, having a publisher composed of former Annapurna Interactive staff (people who built their careers on championing unique, artistically ambitious games) may be an ideal match for a project as unconventional as Game Freak's first foray into AAA action RPG development.
