Jos Hoebe, founder and creative director of WW1 Game Series, will retain a 33.33% stake in the company. He’ll continue to run the studio, which will now go by BlackMill Games instead. BlackMill announced the deal on their Twitter account today. The Netherlands-based developer is the sixth studio acquired by Focus Entertainment, and Hoebe said he hoped his small team of 15 would benefit from Focus’ track record with the FPS genre. “I’m proud and excited for the upcoming launch of Isonzo, and by teaming up with Focus Entertainment, which is a larger and more experienced partner, and will help the series to reach its full potential” Hoebe said. “The fans of our games can expect the same dedication and passion that we have delivered the past ten years with Verdun and Tannenberg but elevated to new heights with Isonzo and this partnership.” Isonzo takes place on the Italian front, pitting the Austro-Hungarian Empire against Italy’s forces. The game is similar to BlackMill’s earlier Verdun and Tannenberg military shooters, but introduces a new Offensive mode with multi-map battles. Fraser Brown bunkered down for our Tannenberg review back in 2017. “While war shooters typically deal in bombast and screaming and artillery barrages,” he said, “Tannenberg juxtaposes that with quiet, everyday tragedies.” He felt that it was a bit more conventional than Verdun. Still, Verdun once had a special Christmastime map released for it that mimicked the fabled footballing truce between Britain and Germany, so I can see where he’s coming from. Isonzo is out on PC tomorrow, September 13th, from Steam and the Epic Games Store. It’s also coming to consoles.
