Rokky teams up with Revolution Software to bring Broken Sword franchise to China

Game distributor Rokky has partnered with Revolution Software to co-publish its Broken Sword franchise in China.

Under the co-publishing agreement, Rokky is responsible for marketing, translation, localisation, influencer outreach, and community management.

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged and the upcoming remaster of The Smoking Mirror will be available in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

The remastered titles feature redrawn backgrounds, over 30,000 reanimated character sprites, and enhanced audio.

“We are delighted to be co-publishing with Rokky, who bring enormous experience, and we are excited to work with them to deliver this game to Chinese players and grow our fan base in the east,” said Revolution Software founder and creative director Charles Cecil.

“There has long been a community of Chinese enthusiasts who have loved the Broken Sword series who have urged us to localise and publish it in China. In reforging the games, we invited gamers from China and around the world to play and offer valuable feedback which we enthusiastically incorporated.”

In recent years, Rokky has experienced “particularly strong growth” in China. Its China distribution team will transition to an official publishing unit.

This partnership marks Rokky’s first time in publishing after distributing PC games for publishers including Sony, Capcom, and Team17.

“The Chinese gaming market is massive, and success requires deep local insight into player behaviour and distribution – knowledge that Rokky has cultivated through years of presence in the region,” said Rokky CEO and founder Vadim Andreev.

“While we’ve distributed many titles before, from AAA to indie, publishing a game is an entirely different task requiring a different skill set. It brings with it new challenges, but these are challenges we are excited to tackle.”

Vadim also told GamesIndustry.biz that as Rokky enters “into the field of publishing,” it is “looking forward to learning and continuing to grow in it.”

Last month, Rokky launched an unofficial Steam tool that allows publishers and developers to monitor whether distribution Steam keys have been used.