Developer-led Holding Nova Assembly Founded by Unfrozen, Sad Cat Studios, VEA Games, Game Garden and Weappy

Sad Cat Studios, Unfrozen, VEA Games, Game Garden and Weappy have founded the holding company Nova Assembly, which is co-owned and run by the participating studios. Rather than merging teams or centralising projects, the holding company maintains the creative freedom of the studios while enabling them to support each other across development and marketing. Studios can share expertise and production experience, reducing the need for outsourcing.

"The initiative comes at a time when the global games industry is facing widespread layoffs, studio closures, and increasing consolidation among large publishers. By forming a developer-led holding, the studios behind Nova Assembly aim to build a more resilient model for independent teams navigating an increasingly volatile market, as outlined in the group's open letter," explains Nova Assembly in its founding statement. The open letter can be read here.

The five studios that founded Nova Assembly have several things in common. They are all headquartered in Cyprus, having previously been based in Russia or Belarus, but having relocated due to the war in Ukraine. All studios are also part of GEM Capital's portfolio. As a games investor, GEM Capital has an office in Paphos, Cyprus. In 2021, Unfrozen received a $1.7 million investment from GEM Capital. In October 2023, Sad Cat Studios secured $5 million in funding from GEM Capital. In May 2024, VEA Games, Game Garden and Weappy received backing from GEM Capital in a joint funding round totalling $5 million.

"The formation of a single holding structure bringing together five commercially successful and highly promising game studios will not only enable creators of ambitious gaming projects to share invaluable expertise accumulated over years of experience, but will also allow for more efficient and strategic use of shared resources," said Denis Fedorov, founder of Unfrozen, who will serve as CEO of Nova Assembly. "And all that without compromising creative independence, which ultimately remains the key driver of competitiveness in today's challenging market."

We spoke to Denis Fedorov, the founder of Unfrozen and the CEO of Nova Assembly, about the reasons behind setting up the holding company, Cyprus's role in this and how its organisation compares to that of Kepler Interactive. We also discussed their plans to establish a publishing arm and whether the creation of the company is a response to the current market environment (read the whole interview).

The combined development pipeline includes ten games spanning several genres, with more than three million entries on wishlists for upcoming titles and over ten million video views. Unfrozen is developing Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, which has surpassed one million wishlists on Steam and is ranked among the top ten most anticipated games on the platform. Sad Cat Studios' Replaced has amassed over 850,000 wishlists, ranking it among the top 30 most anticipated games on Steam globally. VEA Games is known for the platformer Nikoderiko: The Magical World, which was released at the end of 2024. The team has previously worked on titles including Skyforge, Armored Warfare, and Allods Online. Game Garden's 15 released mobile games have generated over 100 million downloads. Weappy's This Is the Police series has sold over 1.5 million copies. Currently, the studio is working on Hollywood Animal and with publisher THQ Nordic on The Eternal Life of Goldman.

"In a world where we increasingly give over control to algorithms, we're uniting with like-minded people to reinforce the human element: to exchange human ideas, offer each other human support, and make human decisions together," said Ilya Yanovich, co-founder of Weappy and incoming Creative Director of Nova Assembly.

The first release from Nova Assembly will be Replaced, developed by Sad Cat Studios and published by Thunderful Publishing, launching on 14 April 2026. This will be followed by Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era (developed by Unfrozen and published by Hooded Horse), which will be released on 30 April 2026.