Deep Silver

A publishing label, not a game studio

Deep Silver does not build games itself. It was set up in 2002 as the publishing arm of Koch Media, the Austrian distributor that Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz had founded in 1994. PLAION's own company history dates the label's creation to that year and describes it as the group's first dedicated games publishing division, home to franchises such as Dead Island and Saints Row. From the start its job was to fund, market and ship titles that other studios had made.

The group around the label has changed names more than once. Koch Media was acquired by Embracer Group in 2018, with a stated promise to keep it operationally independent, and in 2022 it rebranded as PLAION. Deep Silver survives as a division of that company. PLAION today describes itself as a global entertainment group with roughly 2,300 staff, offices in 15 countries and eight development studios, spanning games, film and merchandise.

The catalogue the label carries

Deep Silver's front page lists the worlds it handles: the post-apocalyptic Moscow of Metro, the zombie resorts of Dead Island, the open city of Saints Row, the Warhammer battlefields of Dawn of War IV, the medieval Bohemia of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and the sci-fi action of Metal Eden. That spread is deliberate. The label is not tied to one genre or one audience, and it sells for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, GOG and cloud platforms at once.

One title stands out in the current list. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a first-person historical role-playing game from Warhorse Studios, the Czech team that Koch Media bought in 2019. Deep Silver published it, so the game sits alongside the label's own franchises even though the studio behind it answers to the same parent group. The store description promises an authentic medieval Europe, real-time melee combat and a deliberate refusal to add fantasy.

How Kingdom Come: Deliverance II performed

The sequel reached players on 4 February 2025 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series. It continues the story of Henry, a blacksmith's son, through a medieval civil war, keeping the first-person view and the historical setting. Reviewers and the publisher have treated the game as the label's flagship release of the period, and it is the title Deep Silver puts first on its own website, above its longer-running shooters.

By 25 June 2026 Deep Silver and Warhorse were announcing that the game had passed six million copies sold worldwide. The same statement pointed to a BAFTA Games Award for Best Narrative and several Game of the Year nominations. To mark the number, the publisher cut the price of the sequel and other Kingdom Come products by up to 80 per cent during a Steam sale.

Owning studios as well as signing them

PLAION's history shows the group buying development talent rather than only publishing it. Volition and Fishlabs arrived in 2013, Dambuster Studios in 2015, Warhorse Studios and Milestone in 2019, then Vertigo Games, Voxler and Flying Wild Hog in 2020. Several of those teams now sit inside the same structure as Deep Silver, which means the label's catalogue is partly supplied by studios its own parent owns outright.

The practical effect is that the label often publishes games made by sister companies, which removes some of the negotiation a pure publisher would face. It also means the label's fortunes move with the group's. When the parent reshuffles its portfolio, studios and franchises shift with it, and a release calendar set at the top of the company can override what a single label would prefer to do.

What is on the shelf next

The label's own site currently leads with Metro 2039, Dawn of War IV and Metal Eden, alongside the older Kingdom Come entries and Dead Island 2. That mix suggests the plan is to keep established series running while introducing new ones. Metro 2039 in particular returns to the post-apocalyptic Moscow setting the publisher has used since Metro Exodus, and it is presented as a first-person shooter.

Kingdom Come is being kept warm too. Deep Silver points to a fan event dated 18 August 2026 and to a Royal Edition that bundles earlier expansions for the sequel. For a label whose biggest recent success is a historical role-playing game with no magic in it, the near-term work is as much about supporting that game as about announcing the next one.

Quick facts

Formed in 2002 as the publishing division of Koch Media, the Austrian distributor founded in 1994. Parent: PLAION, itself owned by Embracer Group since 2018 and renamed from Koch Media in 2022. Role: publisher, not a developer, though it draws on studios owned elsewhere in the same group. Base: mainland Europe, selling through Steam, Epic, GOG, PlayStation, Xbox and cloud services, and its games reach players on every major storefront.

Flagship franchises include Metro, Dead Island, Saints Row, Dawn of War and Kingdom Come. The most recent commercial landmark is Kingdom Come: Deliverance II passing six million copies by 25 June 2026. The label also carries Metal Eden and Metro 2039 in its current line-up, and continues to sell older Kingdom Come and Dead Island titles alongside them on every major storefront the label uses.

Questions people ask