Hooded Horse
Hooded Horse is the American strategy-focused publisher behind Corsair Cove, known for Manor Lords, Against the Storm, Old World, and a developer-friendly model with a guaranteed $100,000 minimum marketing and localization budget per title and a 65 percent developer revenue share.
On This Page
Hooded Horse is the publisher of Corsair Cove. The American company specializes in strategy, tactics, city-building, and grand strategy titles, and brought the project to market in partnership with developer Limbic Entertainment. The game was unveiled at the Find Your Next Game CAGGTUS show on April 17, 2026.
Studio Profile
Field | Detail |
|---|---|
Founded | 2019 |
Headquarters | Dallas, Texas, United States |
Leadership | Tim Bender (CEO), Snow Rui (CFO) |
Employees | Approximately 12 (in 2023) |
Specialty | Strategy, tactics, city-building, grand strategy |
Role on Corsair Cove | Publisher |
Portfolio
The catalog is unusually narrow by publisher standards: almost every signed title sits inside the strategy, tactics, simulation, or city-builder space.
Title | Genre / Notes |
|---|---|
Manor Lords | Medieval city-builder and strategy hybrid |
Against the Storm | Roguelite city-builder; 1M+ copies by March 2024 |
Old World | Historical 4X grand strategy; picked up after a previous publisher exited |
Terra Invicta | Grand strategy with global politics and space combat |
Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic | Cold War-era city-builder and economic simulation |
Xenonauts 2 | Turn-based tactics and strategic alien-defense management |
Falling Frontier | Real-time space strategy |
Sons of Valhalla | Side-scrolling base-building and combat |
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew | Real-time tactics in a pirate-supernatural setting |
Nova Roma | City-builder set in classical Rome |
Endless Legend 2 | Fantasy 4X strategy |
9 Kings | Strategy and deck-building hybrid |
Developer-Friendly Model
The publisher has built its reputation on contract terms that lean further toward developers than industry norm. Every signed title is given a guaranteed minimum of $100,000 spent on marketing and localization, so even smaller niche projects launch with professional translations and a real promotional push. Post-release revenue is split with developers retaining 65 percent of net proceeds, a higher share than the more common 50/50 splits seen elsewhere. This model helps explain why the publisher was able to continue Old World after its original publisher exited.
Track Record in City-Builders
Two titles in the catalog matter most for understanding why Corsair Cove landed here. Manor Lords released into Early Access as a high-profile commercial success, validating the publisher as a destination for serious city-builder projects. Against the Storm crossed one million copies sold by March 2024. This shows that mechanically dense roguelite-flavored city-builders can find a wide audience under this model. A vertical city-builder paired with turn-based naval combat fits naturally alongside them.
Corsair Cove Partnership
The publishing deal for Corsair Cove was made public alongside the world premiere on April 17, 2026. CEO Tim Bender publicly framed Limbic as a great studio with a long history of creating fun and innovative city-building games, citing the developer's track record on city-management and simulation projects as a natural fit for the catalog focus. The publisher handles the consumer-facing side of the launch: storefront listings, day-one PC Game Pass placement, demo distribution, the announcement trailer, and the broader marketing rollout. Limbic remains responsible for development.
Unconfirmed Details
Specific budget figures, release-window marketing commitments, and the contractual structure for Corsair Cove have not been disclosed publicly. The $100,000 minimum marketing and localization figure and the 65 percent developer revenue share are publisher-wide policies; neither side has confirmed how those numbers translate into this title specifically. Treat the figures above as the publisher's standard offer rather than confirmed Corsair Cove line items.