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Lyrical Games Launch and Leadership Structure
Alexander Black’s established film and television production company, Lyrical Media, has now officially started a privately funded independent video game publisher named Lyrical Games. This brand-new studio will be specifically led by Blake Rochkind, who previously held important positions at both Private Division and the United Talent Agency (UTA). Importantly, Lyrical Games already has three separate video game projects actively being developed right now with various game creators. One significant project involves a fresh title coming directly from Blackbird Interactive, the respected developer famous for creating “Hardspace: Shipbreaker”.
Furthermore, this gaming venture formally operates under the existing Lyrical Media umbrella, which had already started exploring game-related activities alongside its numerous upcoming film and television productions. These major productions notably include Adam Wingard’s film “Onslaught” plus Michael Sarnoski’s “The Death of Robin Hood”, featuring stars Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, and Bill Skarsgård. Both of these prominent films will actually be distributed by the well-known company A24. Additionally, Lyrical Media is also producing adaptations of popular books: Emily Henry’s “Funny Story”, Brynne Weaver’s “Butcher & Blackbird”, and Lauren Roberts’ “Powerless”.
Publisher’s Specific Mission and Market Position
According to an official statement released by Lyrical Media itself, its newly formed indie gaming company directly aims to financially and creatively support highly imaginative, high-quality video games. These games will strategically occupy a distinct space positioned carefully between the extremes of very small independent projects and enormous, expensive AAA productions. The company explicitly states that traditional game publishers are increasingly choosing to back only safe, predictable projects while actively avoiding financial or creative risk. Consequently, Lyrical Games is deliberately stepping forward to provide essential funding specifically for bold, visionary game developers. Moreover, the company emphasizes it seeks developers who demonstrate strong technical polish and possess a realistic, clearly defined plan for achieving success and standing out effectively within an intensely crowded, ever-competitive global marketplace.
Leadership Team Composition and Backgrounds
Blake Rochkind, who most recently led business development at the independent publisher Private Division (which Take-Two Interactive owned at the time) and previously worked as a video game agent at the United Talent Agency (UTA), is now leading Lyrical Games. Additionally, his former Private Division colleague Roger Kurtz, who held the important position of head of production there, has joined him directly at this new company. Furthermore, the core team includes four other experienced employees who bring valuable backgrounds from major games publishing roles. Specifically, these team members have previously worked at well-known companies including Devolver Digital, Humble Games, and Microsoft, among others, strengthening Lyrical Games’ industry expertise.
Substantial Investment and Strategic Timing
According to Rochkind himself, Lyrical Media has already committed “many millions of dollars in investment” directly into launching and supporting Lyrical Games. Moreover, the company actively aims to “make a big splash” within the video game industry, which is currently experiencing significant turmoil and instability. In fact, Lyrical Games plans to release its very first games as soon as next year. Rochkind explicitly addressed the challenging market conditions: “Obviously, there was a super cycle in the games business and many, many people are exiting or canceling projects.” Consequently, he emphasized their unique approach: “So a huge part of our philosophy was that this is a really unique moment in time.” Finally, he clarified their project pipeline diversity: “I want to be very clear, some things we do will be projects that are paper pitches that are not releasing for three years.”
Near-Term Project Pipeline and Timely Releases
However, because Lyrical Games began operations during a specific industry period, the company managed to acquire several opportunistic projects directly resulting from that timing. Consequently, they now have multiple games scheduled for announcement extremely soon, with planned releases actually arriving as early as 2026. Therefore, Rochkind emphasizes this situation differs significantly from typical publisher announcements where news emerges but nothing materializes for many years: “So this is not the type of thing where we are announcing something and you won’t hear from us until 2028.” Ultimately, while acknowledging the process feels “exciting and also somewhat stressful,” he confirms their aggressive launch strategy: “but we’re hitting the ground running and we will announce games this year and we will release games next year.”
Developer Partnership Approach
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Simultaneously, the Lyrical Games team explicitly states it is actively “looking to partner with a wide spectrum of developers.” The scope of this open-minded approach goes all the way from the most seasoned veterans with years of experience in the industry to absolutely new studios looking to revolutionize the market with nothing but fresh, original ideas. Besides, the CEO himself, Alexander Black, affirmed the company’s core dream by saying: “Right from the get-go, Lyrical Media, our aim was to be the best home for great storytelling no matter the medium.”
He then went on to explain their mission in the gaming world: “Our goal is to unleash the mettle of the most passionate game creators by being the link between them and the players who will get the deepest experience from it.” Finally, Black modestly recognized their interdependence: “Lyrical Games is the experience that we are nothing without our partners and their vision,” thereby giving credit to the developer relationships for their reliance.
