People Can Fly is making a new move to control more of its own future. The studio has acquired the Cooldown Games brand, team, and publishing rights for an undisclosed amount, and it will use the deal to build a dedicated publishing division inside the company.
The deal comes at an important time for People Can Fly. The studio is known for games like Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment, and Outriders. It is also currently co-developing Gears of War: E-Day. But the company has also been dealing with a rough period that included project cancellations and layoffs.
People Can Fly wants publishing to become a new revenue stream after a difficult run of cancelled projects
The acquisition is not only about adding another team. People Can Fly says the move will help it strengthen its publishing activity, increase its share of revenue from owned intellectual property, and create a “capital-efficient” revenue stream. Game Developer also reports that Cooldown will operate as an independent publishing division within People Can Fly Group, with its existing leadership staying in place.
Cooldown Games was founded in 2024 by former Gearbox Publishing veterans. The two companies already had history together because the Cooldown team previously worked with People Can Fly on Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, which sold more than 1 million copies across PC and consoles.
That past relationship seems to be one reason People Can Fly is comfortable making this move now. CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski said the acquisition happened earlier than expected, but it was based on trust in the Cooldown team and a plan for publishing to generate revenue from the start instead of becoming a heavy cost center.
| Deal detail | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Cooldown Games joins People Can Fly | Gives the studio an experienced publishing team |
| Financial terms were not shared | The size of the investment remains unknown |
| Existing Cooldown leadership stays | Keeps publishing experience inside the new division |
| Focus on third-party publishing | Could bring recurring revenue beyond People Can Fly’s own games |
| Past Bulletstorm connection | The companies already worked together successfully |
The timing also explains why this acquisition is being watched closely. People Can Fly recently cancelled Project Gemini and Project Bifrost, with those cancellations also leading to layoffs. Wccftech also notes that Project Dagger, a game it had been working on with Take-Two, had already been cancelled earlier after the publisher dropped the project.
Because of that, a publishing arm could help People Can Fly reduce some of its dependence on outside publishers. If the company can handle more publishing work itself, or publish third-party games through Cooldown, it may have more control over release plans, marketing, distribution, and long-term revenue.
Still, this is not a guaranteed fix. Publishing is difficult, and the games industry is still going through a hard period of layoffs, budget pressure, and cancelled projects. People Can Fly will need successful releases to prove that the new strategy can work.
For now, the studio has several known projects in motion, including Gears of War: E-Day, the Sony-linked Project Delta, and Xeno Point with Krafton. The Cooldown deal adds another piece to that plan. Instead of only building games for other companies, People Can Fly wants a bigger role in bringing games to market.
If the publishing division works, it could give the studio more stability. If it does not, it may become another risky bet during an already uncertain period.
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