Three friends is a new indie player in Sweden who thinks about little

A team of veterans from the industry behind Minecraft. Valheim and Deep rock galaxy have launched the Indie publisher Three friendsS

This is a small team, but they were here before and as if they were going in a full circle back on the days when their big company was a small company.

The Stockholm, based in Sweden, a publisher of Indie focuses on the partnership with small Scandinavian teams, especially in Sweden. The name is a little old already as it is actually complained by four people: Albert Safstrem, Daniel Kaplan, Sebastian Badilak and Johan Hermer, three friends help the developers improve their vision and basic mechanics, ensuring that their game is both creatively strong And a commercial viable to them.

Go small

With a small team, the company can spend more time for any project. Instead of praying and stopping, the team tries to turn any project into success.

“We hope that our impact rate will be higher than someone with a portfolio strategy,” Säfström said. “We are much more recent.”

“There is no secret trick to make a great game – it’s not a big idea, it’s about looking at thousands of small questions along the way,” said Säfström, co -founder and producer at Three Friends. “The right choice at the right time is added, shaping the final experience. We work closely with developers to create an environment in which ideas can mature without deviating from the course, helping the teams to focus their efforts and make the most of their time and resources. “

Three friends do not deal with the signing of as many games as possible – it is that each of them counts. Working closely with selected several teams, they guarantee that each project receives practical support, long -term investment and the strategic guidelines needed for success. By partnering early, they help developers improve ideas, sharpen mechanics and create something really special.

As for the difficulties Matthew Ball pointed out in his slope deck, Säfström said: “I think the industry as a whole exaggerated during Covid. And we still see the consequences of it. People have suggested that all growth curves will continue to extend up and right, as they did during Covid. We are currently seeing the consequences of this. “

“It feels like we are back to the time before Covid,” Kaplan said.

Säfström said: “It’s no surprise that the games that have succeeded are excellent experiences. For us with the situation we are in, this allows us to spend more time for each project. It’s about trying not to be interested in weekly market trends. A good game should not be interested in underestimating trends. A good game must survive in every market. “

“It is easier for us because we are funding smaller developers and we can maintain small teams for a long time,” Kaplan said.

“Posting is always more attractive, as we believe that we can contribute a lot to the production side of things,” Kaplan said. “One of the reasons we left our other jobs was because in the end we became a bigger company. We just looked when everyone else did cool things. We wanted to get involved more in creating cool things. And it is more difficult to be so direct and so engaged when you are in the big company. We feel that we have returned for five or six years and we tried to build a little coffee for spots again. “

Publication model

The model for posting three friends is built on three key principles:

1. Enter early, build it correctly – The best games start with a strong base. Three friends partner with developers early to perfect their vision and create them for success.
2. Choose the right battles -And teams do not have the resources of Triple-A Studios. Three friends help them focus on what really makes their game stand out – like choosing the main survival items for a desert island.
3. Guide rather than control – Great games need a creative look. Three friends work closely with the developers, playing with them and providing insights – without taking the reins.

“We do not believe in fast market play or throwing money on problems,” Kaplan, a co -founder and producer at three friends, said in a statement. “Some of the best indie games – such as Valheim and Deep Rock Galactic – take the time to improve their basic gameplay before scathing. That is why we partner with the developers early, helping them to understand what makes their game special so that they can double what works. “

With decades of experience in supporting Indi studios, three friends have understood the challenges of bringing an independent game on the market. Their practical approach, combined with a deep understanding of the indie landscape, guarantees that developers not only receive funding, but also the strategic support needed to move the complex path from the concept to the release.

Three friends will begin to reveal their first signed titles in the spring of 2025. For more information you can follow three friends at Linkedin or visit the official website hereS

The company has signed six small teams so far, five in Sweden and one in the US, the hope is to launch and discover the first title this year.

Origin

Three Friends is a boutique indie publisher founded by industrial veterans behind Minecraft, Valheim and Deep Rock Galactic. Based in Sweden, they focus on helping mostly Swedish and rock developers to turn strong ideas into excellent games by providing practical guidance, financial support and the first gameplay approach to publication.

As a partner with teams at the beginning of development, three friends guarantee that they have the time, resources and support needed to revive their vision.

“We are small in the publisher based in Sweden. And in fact, we are actually four people who manage this three friends, “said Säfström. “I issued a coffee for spots and started publishing coffee coffee in 2016 by the end of 2022 when we started three friends.”

Kaplan works as a producer and business developer. Previously, he was CEO of Keepsake Games and was also at Coffee Stain at the beginning. He left in 2021 and began Keepsake Games, a small indie game company in Stockholm.

Badilak was also on coffee spots from the beginning, and left just before the team started three friends. The company has a private investor, but it still does not reveal who this is.

“We believe that with our origin there is room to focus on these smaller projects where we could be very picky about the projects we are undertaking and then work much closer with the projects than many other publishers,” said Säfström.

He said the team does not necessarily believe that he was sitting in great insight. More recently, they know that making a good game takes a lot of time and effort.

“We want to allow our teams to explore or cook their game, to do something really special,” Säfström said. “It’s not about one person who comes with this idea of ​​a silver bullet that takes a project from good to great. It is about the accumulation of quite good decisions consistently over time. You know that the really boring answer is that you have to get eight hours of sleep, drink plenty of water, eat your vegetables and go for a walk. This type of mentality towards making games – and for us, this means that we are highly engaged – and we help our teams explore the vision of the games that are trying to make. “

Badlak added: “It is very important to us that they still make their own games, but we act like checks and balance and someone bounce ideas to see that we can find the best version of the game they want to They do. “

The company will focus on the Swedish and big Scandinavian markets on teams. But if she finds a great game, she will work with this team, no matter where she is. The founders have historically had great success in Steam Early Access and are well aware of the Steam platform.

“So we focus on the games that would thrive in this Steam’s early access market,” Badilak said. “So we are not focused on consoles or mobile or blockchain, etc. any of this space.”

Säfström said the company could release its games on the consoles as well, but the computer is the main goal. It is less likely to work on mobile games.

Pursuit of trends? No.

The team is not categorically opposed to blockchain, but they are first focused on gameplay and have not seen terrains so far, where Blockchain is a vital component.

“Most times you feel that someone is chasing a trend. This is not something we have done. We have not seen any features where Blockchain is integrated in a way that improves the game, “Kaplan said.

Säfström added, “We haven’t seen anything there that excites us in Blockchain.”

AI GAME development?

As for the games powered by AI, Kaplan said the team hesitated. The superstar developer can improve with AI tools. But a mediocre developer may not benefit so much. If the tools become good for increasing performance, it makes the small team better and even more forthcoming. But they are still early days in AI tools, which makes a difference in productivity, Säfström said.

“There are many people in the industry who are afraid of depriving jobs,” Kaplan said. “We are in a position where people can try these different models and find mistakes. We work with really small teams and be proud of being quite scandalous. If we can find a really good tool that can help us where it is to improve the game, we believe that at the end of the day it is about what players are experiencing when playing the game that will make the difference. This is not something we do in the name of it. “

“We are quite pragmatic in this sense. Whatever improves the player’s experience – this is something we will definitely appreciate, “Säfström said. “We come from the origin of a computer.”

“We are also trying to look forward. We see that these really powerful engines, for example, can present photorealistic scenes. Imagine you can do this with a really small team, “Säfström said. “But today, it’s like thinking two or three years ahead, thinking that like this will simply lift the bar, so that being a pleasant game will not be as big of a differentiation factor for a year or two. And so we believe that the main gameplay is strong is even more important. “

On the issue of AI, Säfström said the smaller teams would be able to use it very cheaply to explore many agility concepts.

“This is such an advantage that we have because. If you know a meme, if you have a symphony orchestra and one person can play this piece of Mozart in three minutes. How long does it take to the enemy symphony orchestra? Well, it takes the same time. If you have a really big team, it becomes so extremely expensive to do this study. So you somehow come back to the proven and our size allows us to explore a lot more and hope to find some interesting new foundation. “