Finally Some Good Buyout News: A Writer Just Bought Back The Game...

Novelist and game writer Naomi Alderman has bought back the rights to the Zombies, Run! exercise app she's been writing episodes of for more than a decade.

After years of buyouts, consolidation, and layoffs referred to as "efficiency" in the game industry, we deserve a little win for the workers, as a treat. Our small ray of sunshine is this: One novelist and games writer has just bought back the rights to the zombie-themed fitness app that she's been writing for over a decade from the blockchain company that had planned to shut it down.

Naomi Alderman is a published author of science fiction novels. And for years she's also been the lead writer for a gamified fitness app called Zombies, Run! It encourages players to get on the move by listening to episodic post-apocalyptic stories, interval training while actively 'running from zombies,' and supplies rewards from workout sessions to upgrade their survival base.

Alderman co-created the app and wrote its years' worth of voice-acted, episodic stories that have amassed over 10 million users since 2012. My best friend has been evangelizing this game to me (unsuccessfully only because I hate running) on the grounds of its excellent story for all 13 of those years, even when its future was looking bleak more recently.

The game's developer, Six To Start, was acquired by blockchain and "fitness metaverse" company OliveX back in 2021. As reported by The Verge, OliveX laid off the majority of Six To Start's staff earlier this year and started looking to sell the developer or else shut it down.

Turns out, Alderman had a clause in her contract saying that she had the right to purchase if it were ever up for sale, she explains in her public announcement, a savvy move she credits to her experience in the publishing industry and one not available to most game writers. "I think I might be the only games writer to be in a position to do this kind of deal," she writes.

"I knew OliveX had been looking for a buyer and I presumed it would be way out of my range, but when they let me know that they were tentatively starting conversations and the price range it suddenly seemed as though it might be possible," Alderman tells PC Gamer. "[I was] excited and terrified when I realised I could indeed put it together!"

"I’m delighted to make sure that Zombies, Run! doesn’t end up being turned into AI slop," she writes in her announcement.

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Source: PC Gamer