Are games an art form? Mighty Box Games’ Will Love Tear Us Apart? certainly is. It revolves heavily around the concept of emotions and relationships. ‘The game adapted the song “Love will tear us apart” by Joy Division into a dark and depressing video game, to reflect the mood of the song’, writes Marvin Zammit, CEO of Mighty Box. The game has been very successful, receiving praise and coverage from all over the world, with three nominations for international awards. Catalysed by their success, the team managed to turn Mighty Box into a fully-fledged game development company.

Courtesy of Mighty Box Games

Currently the company is greatly supported by the TakeOff business incubator at the University of Malta. TakeOff provides the team with a place to work, while also providing invaluable mentorship.

Business advice is especially appreciated by startups— the Mighty Box team members had no prior experience. Mighty Box won Malta Enterprise and TakeOff seed funds, as well as financial assistance from the Malta Arts Fund. Another key success was their board game Posthuman that raised over €300,000 on Kickstarter when launched last year. They are now planning a video game version after receiving funding from the Malta Digital Games Fund.

Mighty Box is one of the few Maltese indie-game development companies. It is paving the way for more local talent to enter the industry. Their future plans see them developing dedicated teams for different projects and further growth could see them boost the local economy. Mighty Box has turned amazing art and innovative games into business.