Dark Horse Comics is no stranger to the world of video games. Its published numerous art books and comics based on some of the recognized and famous gaming franchises out there, from Metal Gear Solid and Tomb Raider to Overwatch and Cyberpunk 2077. Now, the company plans to become more directly involved with the industry by opening its very own gaming division, simply called Dark Horse Games.

In an exclusive interview with GamesBeat, Dark Horse Games' general manager Johnny Lee explained that Dark Horse will create games through licensing deals with other studios. It's apparently already in talks with several (albeit unnamed) studios to make triple-A games based on Dark Horse's most famous properties, which will be released across consoles, PC, mobile, and cloud-based services. And if all goes well, Lee believes these games could start to appear as early as the end of next year's first quarter.

RELATED: ARMS Dark Horse Comic Has Been Canceled

This doesn't mean Dark Horse won't be making games of its own. As it stands, it doesn't have the staff to make major triple-A titles; Lee even says his games staff could consist of less than ten people. Instead, it will build internal studios to work on games based on newer and less well-known IPs. It also plans to make tie-in projects that will help promote its first-party games, like web cartoons and anime.

Dark Horse certainly has a substantial library of franchises to make video games of, including the likes of Sin City, The Umbrella Academy, and Hellboy, all of which have received film or TV adaptations that have helped elevate them into becoming big names. There have been a few games based on Dark Horse properties already, with perhaps the most well known being the two Hellboy games. Neither of them were received particularly well, however.

BPRD And Hellboy Poster

Lee hopes that, some day, Dark Horse will be able to reach the same level as Marvel and DC, both of which have enjoyed major video game successes over the years, with arguably the most notable examples being Insomniac's Spider-Man games for the former and the Batman Arkham series for the latter. Lee says that Dark Horse is taking lessons from those two, adding that Dark Horse is expected to remain hands-on with future projects and work very closely with potential partners.

Before joining Dark Horse, Lee originally worked in software and consumer products, but always had a passion for media and entertainment. He would later start up his own game specialist consultancy, DGTL, and then went on to lead business development at Improbable.

MORE: Remembering the Cancelled Batman: The Dark Knight Video Game

Source: GamesBeat