The mysterious partner behind Age of Wonders 3, recently announced from Dutch studio Triumph, is not old co-developer Epic Games but rather a single fan of the series.
It's Markus Persson, aka "Notch."
Apparently, he's contributed enough with funding that Age of Wonders 3 doesn't require a publisher although the studio hasn't ruled out potential distribution and co-publishing deals.
"We noticed Minecraft's random title-screen blurb mentioned Age of Wonders," Lennart Sas, the co-owner and managing director of Triumph, told Eurogamer, "so I thought what the heck and I sent Notch an email.
"We had a demo for Age of Wonders 3 and talked to various parties including traditional publishers. There was certainly interest, but the prospect of having Notch help fund was a dream come true as he's a fan of the game and didn't insist on owning it like many of the publishers do these days when they fund development."
Work on the turn-based strategy game began in 2000, so investing in the game wouldn't cost Notch a lot of time, which was his biggest concern, according to Sas. It's due out this fall on PC, and a Mac version is planned. A tablet version is also being considered.
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