Update 22/04/2026: Developer Poncle has since clarified that it has "15 new projects," which does not necessarily mean it has 15 new games in development. These projects can include anything from a new game, free updates for Vampire Survivors, DLCs, etc.
The headline of this article has been updated to reflect the correct language.
Original Story:
Vampire Survivors was one of the standout hits when it launched in 2022, selling over a million copies in a matter of months and taking home Best Game at the BAFTAs. Its developer Poncle has grown to be able to publish other titles like Kill the Brickman, create a spin-off title in Vampire Crawlers, and release several DLC updates for Vampire Survivors. Now, as the game has reached over 27 million players, Poncle has over 15 projects in active development, including two new original IPs.
That comes from a new interview from The Game Business with Matteo Sapio, chief executive officer at Poncle. Sapio spoke about how Vampire Survivors grew from an indie game made by a solo developer, Luca Galante, to an indie juggernaut that is now capable of publishing other indie titles, having several more in the works, opening new studio branches, and even licensing its game engine out to other IPs so they can create their own 'Survivors' style games.
"Vampire Survivors came from a solo developer," Sapio said. "It was Luca Galante, who made a game for him and his friends. Vampire Survivors exploded, and in two or three months, it sold more than one million copies. Luca's yachts are video games. So instead of buying a yacth, he made the Emerald Beyond DLC [for Vampire Survivors] with Square Enix, which was released for free. Things grew organically from there."
According to Sapio, Poncle's future projects can be put into three categories:
- Vampire Survivors spin-off games, like Vampire Crawlers
- Brand-new IPs, two of which are currently in development
- 'Survivors' games based on other IPs set in their universes, like Warhammer Survivors
Most of the titles Poncle has in the works seemingly come from the first and third categories, between spin-offs and licensed games, some of which Poncle takes the lead on, depending on how knowledgeable the studio is on any given IP.
"A lot of people came to us and said: 'Let's do a collaboration with Survivors.' Survivors seems very simple, with simple graphics. But it's actually quite complicated. If we have knowledge of the IP, we will [make the game] ourselves. But a lot of times we don't. If you have an IP, for example Warhammer 40K, which has decades of story and lore, we don't want to risk disappointing the fans. So, we made an engine called the Vampire Survivor Engine, which is a kind-of template with all the Vampire Survivor juice inside, and then we're giving it to people that we considering the IP guardians."
Sapio also talked about Poncle's strategy with opening new studio branches, which it has done in both Japan and Italy. "We are not talking about a gigantic remote studio," Sapio said. "We are thinking about it like a federation of studios. Our idea is to have little teams of people - five, 10, 15 - working on different projects. The structure will be, we will have a designer, a bunch of producers, and this little team that's agile and flexible. That is how we will maintain this spirit. Because what is the indie spirit? It is mainly freedom and taking risk with ideas."
"We don't want to be AAA or AA. We're efficient with costs. We don't take useless risks. We invest in people. So, with 15 projects, one can fail, one can go good, and you balance that."
Amidst all of this, however, Poncle's publishing arm is being put on pause while it works on the three aforementioned project categories. Sapio called its previously published titles "a learning experience" and that Poncle found it wasn't "able to give the right support," so they decided to get out of the publishing game for now.
Overall it's incredible to see the run Poncle has been on since Vampire Survivors exploded onto the video game industry in 2022. Hopefully we'll get a look at some of its upcoming projects, especially its brand-new IPs, soon.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
