New Koch Media label will publish Payday 3 and a new Painkiller game

Payday 3
(Image credit: Prime Matter)

Koch Media has founded its fifth publishing label, joining the likes of Deep Silver and Milestone. The new one is called Prime Matter and it’s based in Munich, and Koch describes it as a “premium gaming label,” because of course they’re not going to call it a substandard gaming label.

It does have some interesting games in its already twelve-strong roster: Chief among them is Payday 3, which we already knew was being published by Koch. According to Koch it will be set in a “Hollywood-like environment” this time around, and that art above is from the game.

The most surprising among the 12 games is a new Painkiller game. The first-person shooter series has been dormant since 2012, with the first game having the distinction of being Outriders studio People Can Fly’s first outing. Koch, or Prime Matter, hasn’t revealed anything about the game at all, except that it exists.

Because there’s so many of ‘em, here’s a list of the other Prime Matter games:

Crossfire: Legion - a futuristic real time strategy developed by Blackbird Interactive, and an offshoot of tactical FPS CrossFire.

Scars Above - A new sci-fi action adventure developed by Serbian studio Mad Head Games.

Codename Final Form - A futuristic FPS starring a cybernetic Valkyrie, developed by Reikon Games.  

Gungrave G.O.R.E. - A third-person action shooter starring the “badass anti-hero of your dreams,” whose name is Grave, obviously.

Dolmen - An action RPG that actually hit Kickstarter back in 2018. It looks kinda like a mix of Dark Souls and Dead Space.

The Last Oricru - Another third-person action RPG with a “unique middle age setting” which also, somehow, has sci-fi elements.

Echoes of the End - This one’s a “story-driven single-player adventure game” set in a fantasy world, developed by Icelandic studio Myrkur Games.

The Chant - A third-person psychological thriller / horror game developed by Canadian studio Brass Token.

Kings Bounty 2 - This one releases on August 24, and it departs from the first game’s strategy roots to become—you guessed it—a third-person RPG.

Encased - This one’s been kicking about for a while. It’s a Fallout 2-inspired RPG set in a society trapped beneath a mysterious dome. We previewed it in 2019 and it was promising

In addition to the games listed above, the next game by Kingdom Come Deliverance studio Warhorse will release on Prime Matter, as will Mount and Blade II: Bannerlords, which is already available in Early Access. 

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.