At the Future Games Show today, Vampire Survivors creator Luca Galante talked about making more Vampire Survivors spin-offs—noting the success of Vampire Crawlers as a motivator—some of which he's calling "Survivatons."
It's a "stupid" name that is "short for survive-a-ton," the masked Poncle head said in the interview.
The Survivaton label "encompasses internally developed games that build on the foundation of the studio's flagship title, Vampire Survivors, in collaboration with selected content partners," Poncle said in a press release. "Each project will aim to introduce major gameplay changes, content expansions, or genre twists exploring ideas substantial enough to stand as their own games."
The first Survivaton will be revealed "very soon," and Vampire Survivors itself will be renamed "Vampire Survivors - First Survivaton."
Galante also revealed Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Blood Moon, a small add-on for the original. It'll feature "eight-plus characters, eight-plus weapons, plus evolutions," and will be cheap: around 80 pence (a little over $1 USD), Galante said.
Even as Poncle works on Survivatons, there'll be more to come for the original Vampire Survivors in the future. Patch 1.15 just dropped on Steam with "a new stage, new characters, new weapons, and new Darkanas."
"I'm not planning to let go of Vampire Survivors anytime soon," said the creator.
The genre spawned by Vampire Survivors has a couple of popular names. Steam has settled on "bullet heaven," though some prefer "survivors-like." It doesn't sound like Galante is pitching "Survivaton" as a replacement for either, just a name for official Vampire Survivors spin-offs—but who knows, maybe it'll catch on.
The final announcement is the establishment of Poncle Japan, "a dedicated Japanese subsidiary focused on deepening the studio's presence in one of the world's most important gaming markets." The new studio will be run by Sawaki Takeyasu, known for his work on Devil May Cry and El Shaddai.
Correction: Some Vampire Survivors spin-offs will be "Surviatons," but not all Vampire Survivors spin-offs will be Survivatons, a distinction not previously made by this article.
