"These guys are really nice" – Why the developer of PlateUp has joined forces with Yogscast Games
It's Happening, the company behind PlateUp developer Alastair Janse van Rensburg, has acquired a 30% stake in Yogscast Games. Van Rensburg is now consulting on signings and helping the publisher spot and shape projects with breakout potential. The deal formalizes a relationship that was already happening informally, with Yogscast leaning on his feedback for new games.
Why devs should care: this is a pretty clear signal that publishing is moving toward hands-on curation, open development, demos, and community-driven discovery. Byron says wishlist data is increasingly unreliable, Next Fest-style beats are crowded, and word of mouth plus creators matter more than press. PlateUp itself is the proof point here: Yogscast expected around 100,000 sales over two years, but it hit 201,000 in its first month and has since generated more than $17.2 million across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox (excluding Switch).
“These guys are really nice, everything's going really well.”
- what
- It's Happening acquired a 30% stake in Yogscast Games, and PlateUp creator Alastair Janse van Rensburg is consulting for the publisher.
- who
- Alastair Janse van Rensburg, Simon Byron, It's Happening, Yogscast Games, LittleBigEars Games, and Gilded Rune Games.
- when
- PlateUp launched on Steam in 2022; the partnership is being announced now in the GamesIndustry.biz interview.
- impact
- The deal formalizes a publisher-dev collaboration focused on game curation, playtests, demos, and community-led discovery rather than old wishlist metrics.
A successful dev-publisher partnership and strong sales story
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