.png?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=80&format=jpg&disable=upscale "Key art of Super Meat Boy 3D, featuring the titular meaty character wallrunning away from an enemy")
Image via Sluggerfly and Team Meat
Hybrid developer and publisher Reforged Studios has acquired Super Meat Boy 3D co-publisher Headup for an undisclosed fee.
As announced earlier today, the German independent games publisher behind Bridge Constructor and Pumpkin Jack is now part of Reforged’s growing portfolio. According to Reforged, this acquisition represents a “significant strategic milestone” in its plan to support independent studios as a “developer-first” publishing platform.
The move also highlights Headup’s curatorial expertise. The studio will continue “publishing and supporting standout indie games.” Besides managing operations of the company, Dieter Schoeller, founder of Headup, will now also contribute to Reforged’s strategic growth as chief publishing officer at group level, reporting directly to the founders.
“This wasn’t about chasing scale — it was about finding the right people,” Schoeller said in the announcement. “Reforged is built by people who genuinely understand games, and that alignment allows us to grow without losing what makes Headup special.”
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“Headup has built one of the most respected and carefully curated portfolios in independent publishing,” Reforged Studios CEO Peter van der Watt said. “Their reputation has been earned through consistent developer advocacy and a clear editorial vision. Bringing that capability into Reforged materially strengthens our publishing platform and accelerates our long–term growth strategy. “
Van der Watt also said the acquisition isn’t about “consolidation for its own sake,” but instead about building a durable publishing home for independent creators. According to the announcement, Headup’s team remains unchanged, with “no job losses or redundancies” as part of the acquisition.
Reforged, which started up in 2023, promotes itself as a studio that acquires other teams to assist them with their games. It acquired three developers in 2024 alone: Fights in Tight Spaces maker Ground Shatter, co-developer of Revolution Software’s Broken Sword series Extra Mile, and Yellow Lab Games.
About the Author
Contributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.com
Diego Nicolás Argüello is a freelance journalist and critic from Argentina. Video games helped him to learn English, so now he covers them for places like The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and more. He also runs Into the Spine, a site dedicated to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast about the Ace Attorney series. He’s most likely playing a rhythm game as you read this.
