How Kepler Interactive balances artistic vision with gaming innovation"Change is the only constant in our space," says CEO Alexis GaravaryanImage credit: Kepler Interactive Feature by Rachel Weber Contributor Published on Feb. 22, 2025 Kepler Interactive already boasts one of the more eclectic portfolio of games, from the New Caledonia inspired blue seas of Tchia to the survival horror adventure game lauded for its nightmare fuel visuals, and maintains a creative studio that allows the company to collaborate with different mediums in art and culture.As we interview CEO Alexis Garavaryan, the company is still celebrating becoming a majority investor in French indie video game studio Tactical Adventures. He talks more about that new partnership, how Kepler Interactive finds, evaluates and works with new game developers, and what the biggest challenges facing the games industry are right now.Kepler Interactive has a varied portfolio, and it can be hard to see what aligns a game like Tchia with one like Scorn - can you explain what makes a project a Kepler Interactive game?As a baseline, Kepler games champion bold art direction and innovative game design. We always start there, but also we particularly cherish games that look outward, beyond games, drawing influence from every form of art, culture and experience. A lot of games are very inward looking, referring mainly to other games and a small group of totemic IPs from other media. We see an opportunity to create an identity by working with developers who look elsewhere for inspiration, and I think you can see that in our portfolio alreadyTchia draws from Awacebs New Caledonian heritage. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 does a similar thing by looking at the JRPG through a distinctly French lens. Pacific Drive was influenced by Jeff VanDerMeers Southern Reach Trilogy, but also Cassie Dracotts lived experience of driving a station wagon through the Pacific Northwest of America and the feelings of attachment and dependency that inspired.Its a connection that gives us a lot of freedom to sign varied projects, because its not too prescriptive. We want that link to work for us rather than restrict us. How does Tactical Adventures fit into that framework specifically?Whenever we bring in a new studio or partner, its important to us that they align with our values and help to elevate the whole group - whether thats by bringing in expertise in a new area or genre, or innovative ideas and development techniques, we always want to expand and share our knowledge collectively. With Solasta, Tactical Adventures approaches the RPG genre through the lens of tabletop gaming, blending deep tactical combat - where verticality, positioning, and creative problem-solving take center stage - with the rich storytelling traditions that define classic pen-and-paper adventures. Were excited to help them continue on this path, but to also learn from them and their ideas. Our role is to help them with our expertise in any way we can, whether that's extending their game's reach using our extensive marketing abilities, bolstering their platform presence with our publishing department or leaning on our strong relationships with platforms and partners to get great placement. Also our group composition means that all our studios share knowledge, tech and feedback in a way that allows us to operate at a level equal to much larger publishers, all whilst ensuring that they retain creative control and independence while doing so.Can you discuss Kepler Interactives approach to Early Access releases, both generally and in regards to Solasta 2?Decisions around how our studios want to approach development for their games are entirely up to them. Tactical Adventures is a studio comfortable with the early access model and it did wonders for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Its important that the studios and developers we work with can tailor their launch plans to what makes the most sense for their game, genre and community so its always something we allow for flexibility to do.How do you go about finding titles that you want to work with? Do people come to you, are events important as they come back post-COVID?It has to be a mix of different approaches, just because of the volume of unsigned games out there. The best opportunities often come through the personal networks of the people on the Kepler team, but its difficult to predict where the most exciting projects will come from weve signed games at events, through recommendations, by spotting them on Steam, and from blind submissions through our website. Its impossible to see everything, so we try to cast the net as wide as we can and then make sure that we only sign games that fit our creative values.Having those values in place is really important. We talk about this a lot, but having an idea of what a Kepler game should be is very helpful when it comes to scouting. There are plenty of good projects out there. We pass on good games all the time. Were looking for the exceptional games that will help build Keplers identity, and those are rare.Is there anything that would be a total dealbreaker to you, when it came to signing a game? Just an instant no?There is a very familiar pool of influences that has been used far too much by the industry, and we privilege games that avoid leaning into those tropes. Culture like Star Wars, Blade Runner, zombie movies, Greek mythology, superhero comics (to list a few examples) have an outsize impact on how a lot of games look and feel, and were trying to look beyond those as much as possible Pacific Drive is a great example of creating a singular atmosphere by mixing a varied set of influences that arent commonly seen in other games, and players were drawn to that. Thats what were looking for, and pitches that dont have it are quite easy to spot.Any kind of success can seem very hard to achieve, so I can understand why a team might look to the familiar in the hope of guaranteeing an audience, but we see this as a risk. A similar thing happens whenever a game really breaks out and surprises everyone. Hades was followed by dozens of pitches that followed its template with different theming, and were all braced for the same thing to happen with a game like Balatro. Games that follow trends in that way are likely to launch into a saturated market by the time theyre done. How does Kepler Ghost support your goals for the company?Weve built support functions that allow us to work with the very best studios - whether that is through project financing, publishing or through a white label service, which is what Kepler Ghost offers. Our contributions to a great video game are modest compared to the exceptional work the developers do. We wanted to be able to provide an offering that is reflective of that, where the creators receive all the recognition they deserve without having to compromise or share the spotlight. As our philosophy and approach to games becomes something that we're known for - from the way we consider them as part of broader culture, to the ideas we look for when signing them - we have found that developers tend to appreciate our identity and welcome the association with Kepler. We never want to force this, but it's always special to us that after working with us for a while our developers feel this way.I have to ask about the creative studio part of Kepler Interactive puzzle (that Robyn Lynch website is wild) and why that sort of work, on top of everything else you're doing, important to you?Its important to us because weve always been interested in exploring where games touch other cultural and creative spaces. We think about games in the same way we think about fashion, architecture, music or design, and we love to experiment with how these mediums could interact with each other. The Robyn Lynch collaboration came about because we saw her FW23 show and felt a kindred spirit in how she builds worlds around her collections and the worlds we build in our games. A Kepler game is one that looks outward and takes influence from other forms of art and culture so it feels right that as a publisher and partner we also participate in that cultural discourse and challenge perspectives through projects like this. The games industry is always changing, but right now what do you think the biggest challenges are that we'll face in the next five years?Change is the only constant in our space. However, it feels like things have drastically accelerated recently. Geopolitical changes are affecting our segment intensely and were moving away from having an amorphous global pop culture to a much more heteroclite world with accentuated regional differences. So you have to focus on designing things that are aggressively different.In the past, a lot of studios looked to pitch what they thought were safe concepts to increase their odds of getting funding. I view those infinitely derivative ideas to be dead, and if you dont propose something radically innovative to players youre going to struggle.Kepler Interactive is so unique I'd love to get a sense of your work day. Say you find yourself with a whole afternoon and no meetings booked or even to prep for - how are you spending that time?That sounds like a nice proposition that never happens :D. Typically Id spend a few hours playing the latest builds of our titles and other interesting games recently released. If time allows we try to get out and experience those other forms of culture we've discussed. In London we recently dropped in to Devon Turnbull's Listening Room at 180 Studios, last week in Paris we spent some time digging through the shelves at Yvon Lambert, the whole team went to an Erika de Casier show together a few months ago. I think its important that our company's culture reflects our games and their eclectic inspirations.