In November 2024, the French strategy specialists at Amplitude Studios returned to independence. We spoke to CEO and co-founder Romain de Waubert de Genlis about the split, future plans, their partnership with Hooded Horse, community initiatives, and their current games.

Since November 2024, the French studio Amplitude Studios has been independent again, having left Sega. Shortly before the Early Access release of Endless Legend 2 on 22 September 2025 - for which the studio chose Hooded Horse as its publishing partner - we spoke to Romain de Waubert de Genlis, the studio's CEO and co-founder. The interview covers the separation from Sega, the studio's current business strategy and direction, their collaboration with Hooded Horse, their most successful game to date (Humankind), their meanwhile independently community platform (Games2Gether) and some of the key concepts behind Endless Legend 2.

Amplitude Studios is a French video game development studio based in Paris. It was founded in 2011 by former Ubisoft employees Romain de Waubert de Genlis and Mathieu Girard, the latter of whom is now the CEO of Tactical Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magister). The studio specialises in strategy games and is best known for the Endless series, comprising Endless Space, Endless Legend, and Dungeon of the Endless. In 2016, Amplitude Studios was acquired by Sega Sammy Holdings and became part of Sega Europe. During this period, the studio released Endless Space 2, Love Thyself: A Horatio Story, Humankind, and Endless Dungeon. However, since November 2024, the studio has been independent again following a management buyout (MBO). Employing over 140 people, the studio often works closely with the community, for example in Early Access or via the Games2Gether platform. Every January, the studio celebrates its founding with the community event "Amplified".

GamesMarkt: In November 2024, Amplitude Studios bought itself out from Sega and became an independent company (again). How did this management buyout come about?

Romain de Waubert de Genlis: "Well, we realised that we were no longer aligned, so it came about as a result of that. The whole industry was in crisis at the time and, I think, Sega's strategy was not really aligned with ours. Interestingly, however, it was not them who came to us. It was more us coming to them, because we couldn't see how we were adding value to the company as a whole. If we weren't adding value... I didn't want to think what could happen to us. So we approached Sega and said that we would love to buy back Amplitude Studios. There were a few conditions: we wanted to keep the IPs and the games so that we could continue working with our players and the community. There also had to be no redundancies. This was necessary for us to survive, because we need our people to make games. We were, of course, watching what was happening to the other studios within the group and could see the same thing happening to us. We were afraid of losing all our talent and having no chance to recover if that happened. The negotiations took around a year. Reaching an agreement was a long process, but they were really good to us in this tricky situation. The process was well managed throughout, and I think they wanted to ensure it was a win-win situation  - good for them and good for us. I did not realise it would take so long. And that's it."


GamesMarkt: What will Amplitude Studios focus on next following the MBO?

Romain de Waubert de Genlis: "Once we were finally independent, we could focus on 4X. It's all about strategy. We wanted to focus on that because it's in our DNA. And it's more difficult for a large company to accept releasing an unfinished game in Early Access."

"If any of our players want to think about the 4X game they want to play, they should consider our games first. We make sure we can deliver our games on all platforms. Thanks to Sega, we realised that our games aren't just on PC. They're on PC and consoles, as well as portable consoles like the Steam Deck. However, we're not yet on the Switch. We therefore need to ensure that our games are enjoyable on these devices and that we can deliver. If you look at Humankind, for example, a third of our players play on consoles. We were actually expecting around 10 per cent, and would have been happy with that. But 30 per cent? We did not see that coming."

GamesMarkt: Amplitude Studios' next game, Endless Legend 2, will be released on 22 September 2025 and published by Hooded Horse. How did you get in touch with them?

Romain de Waubert de Genlis: "I mean, the market for strategy games is huge, and I love playing them too. I realised that the only games I had played in the past six months were published by a company called Hooded Horse with a flashy logo. It took me a while to realise that, but we think we should work with them because we want to focus on making games rather than selling them — making games is hard enough! This is what makes this the perfect partnership, and having people who are passionate about your games makes a difference, too."


GamesMarkt: Looking back on your latest game, Endless Dungeon, what are your overall thoughts? After all, it wasn't a traditional strategy game, but a roguelite tactical action game. And in what ways did this influence your next project?

Romain de Waubert de Genlis: "Endless Dungeon is somewhat of an outlier in terms of what we're trying to achieve. It's an action-tactics game. It goes back to Dungeon of the Endless. The original game featured pixel art, and we introduced multiplayer functionality relatively late in the development process, which appealed to some of our core fans. This group was small, but they told their friends about the game they were playing. By the end, it had really taken off. We realised that we definitely had something there, so we tried to build on its success with Endless Dungeon. While it wasn't the commercial success we were hoping for, many players love it. After all, it is quite unique. I believe that we are slowly emerging from the crisis, albeit not as quickly as we would like. We still need to be careful and defensive and focus on what we are known for. We're really good at 4X games, so that's what we want to focus on. This is our focus right now."


GamesMarkt: But what about Humankind? This 4X strategy game was first released for PC in 2021, and later for consoles, clearly challenging the dominance of Civilization.

Romain de Waubert de Genlis: "Humankind has been our greatest commercial success by far.  We currently have 3.5 million players, including half a million who have joined since the start of this year. Following the announcement of Civilization 7 and its release in February, many players came to us because articles about the game also discussed Humankind. There were some frustrating moments, but also a lot of positivity because of the similarities with Civ 7 in terms of some of the features. However, we were there first, so we had time to refine our product. I'm sure they will have time to do the same, but we are in a more mature state. We have a lot of activity. Every month, around a quarter of a million players enjoy Humankind and Endless Space — these two games are very popular. It's definitely worth investing in them, and with Endless Legend 2 coming out soon, I can't wait to see how it develops. We have big, active communities, so we're going to continue providing this kind of support and working more closely with our core fans."

"Humankind is in a really good place at the moment. The sentiment on Steam has turned around since the announcement of Civilization 7, as well as the change in Steam's ratings policy, whereby ratings are now broken down by language. This is helping us a lot. In Germany, for example, we are at 82 or 83. In France, it's around the same. So it's changing perceptions. We were quite vocal in advocating for this change, as we hoped to see a shift in Steam's original ratings system. Cultural differences mean that we interpret things differently. As a player, I want to see the ratings of people who probably have similar views to me. So I'm very happy about that change."


GamesMarkt: The community management platform, Games2Gether, also played a significant role in developing the latest games. How has the project evolved, and what is its current relevance?

Romain de Waubert de Genlis: "It's actually quite interesting. We opened Games2Gether up to other studios, and because they are separate businesses, it has evolved into its own company (Games2Gether SASU). It's a white-label solution designed to simplify community development. It's great for supporting games and communities. To me, it's kind of like a sister company. The idea is to familiarise yourself with the games, of course. When the time comes to invest in a game, no one wants to wait - as a player, you also want to invest while you can still make a difference. If you love a game, you want to make sure you're being heard - that's the whole idea behind Games2Gether! We use it a lot, as we did with Humankind, to improve the player experience."

GamesMarkt: Ahead of the upcoming Early Access launch of Endless Legend 2, a demo was released in August. What feedback have you received from players so far?

Romain de Waubert de Genlis: "The initial feedback is great. However, we have received reviews saying that it only features 90 turns and two factions. It's a demo, guys! I'm glad to receive this negative feedback. It means they're hooked, which is a good thing. The idea is that you're supposed to be frustrated by the end and want to buy the game. We're extremely happy with that. We have a lot of players, mostly through word of mouth because we haven't promoted it much, but a few influencers have picked it up. We have quite a few players, and we're tweaking some things based on the feedback we've received. We're trying to resolve these issues in time for Early Access. But they're just minor issues. It's basically a good warm-up for the release. It's funny, because you have Early Access to prepare for the release and now we have a demo to prepare for Early Access! We also had a build with five thousand players testing it for six months before Early Access. But it's Early Access, not a finished game. However, the entire loop is present: you can play normal games and access most of the factions. There is a huge amount of 4X content, and you can play for hundreds of hours. There are, however, some things we need to work on first. We want to gauge player feedback to see if the focus should remain the same or if we should shift it. I think the next steps depend on the first few weeks of Early Access."


GamesMarkt: The 4X market is highly competitive, particularly since the release of Civilization 7 in February. What features does Endless Legend 2 introduce that set it apart?

Romain de Waubert de Genlis: "In 4X, there's one element that is always a bit tricky: exploration. After the initial phase, it's quickly finished. This means you miss out on the excitement of discovering new land to settle, exploit and expand. This is an area where we wanted to make a change. We wanted to add a system that would unlock new areas of land throughout the game. This system is called Tidefall. You start on an island or a small continent. Then, over time, the Tidefall reveals new land that everyone can access. This creates a sense of urgency and tension, making players feel under pressure. Exploration continues throughout the game. It has been very well received so far - it's innovative and strikes a good balance within the 4X genre."

"I think there's one more. In Endless Legend, battles took place in real time. You gave orders to your army, who then acted accordingly in response to your opponents' actions. I loved this system, but not everyone understood it or how to strategise with it. That's why we switched to full turn-based tactics for Endless Legend 2; Humankind was our first step in this direction. We refined that system in Humankind as well, and I'm excited about it because not everyone was a fan of the Endless Legend system."

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Written by

Marcel Kleffmann
Marcel Kleffmann