Panic Inc. is an American software development and video game publishing company based in Portland, Oregon. But if you've only heard of them recently, they've made something improbable happen in the gaming industry: they've become influential by refusing to play it safe.
The company's betting streak began almost by accident.Untitled Goose Game really helped Panic make Playdate; the revenue from that kept Playdate going during its development years. A game about a bird harassing villagers became viral gold, ultimately selling over a million copies and winning major awards.By the end of 2019, Untitled Goose Game had sold more than a million copies. That success wasn't on Panic's radar."There's something really simple and pure and slapstick-y about the game that I think appeals to almost everyone," says Sasser.
But here's where Panic's model gets interesting. They didn't chase that formula. Instead, they doubled down on weirdness.Panic has an idea of what a Panic Game is. There's a distinctive look and a distinctive sense of humour. So that's worked out really well. When the Melbourne-based developer House House approached them about publishing their next project, Panic didn't hesitate.Big Walk is an upcoming cooperative video game developed by House House and published by Panic. Players go on a walk through bushland and solve puzzles. It is scheduled to release in 2026 for macOS, PlayStation 5 and Windows.
The shift from Untitled Goose Game to Big Walk tells you everything about how Panic thinks."Hang out and get lost with close friends in a big world. A cooperative online walker-talker from the creators of Untitled Goose Game." It's not a sequel. It's not a safe incremental improvement. It's something fundamentally different:Many challenges involve teamwork and using novel methods to communicate with one another, including miming, singing or transmitting codes.
Panic's handheld device, the Playdate, embodies the same risk-taking philosophy.In 2022, Panic debuted the Playdate, a tiny yellow game console with a crank on the side and a monochromatic display. Playdate was a verified hit and its library is still being updated today. The device shouldn't have worked. It has a black-and-white screen when colour has been standard for years. It requires users to turn a mechanical crank. Yetthey went and nurtured an entire dev ecosystem and facilitated the release of over 300 games.
What drives this strategy?"We're just super dedicated to it. We love all these people that have written their first video games on the platform, and we love all the people that seem to get joy out of playing it. It's really intoxicating and it keeps us going." That's not typical venture capital thinking. That's not quarterly growth targets or algorithmic optimisation. That's a company willing to bet its future on the belief that players still crave experiences that feel handmade.
The broader gaming industry operates on risk aversion. Publishers rely on franchises, sequels, and data-driven design. Panic operates on the opposite principle: distinctive creative vision."Maybe this is dumb advice, but I think you need a hook." Big Walk is the hook. A game about walking with friends in Australian bushland, about communication breakdowns that become comedy, about friendship in a video game that has no combat and no failure states.Set on an island covered in Australian bushland, Big Walk is a cooperative online multiplayer game that will set you and your friends free to explore and solve a variety of puzzles and challenges testing your ability to communicate as a group.
This is a real gamble.Panic and House House have delayed Big Walk, a cooperative multiplayer adventure about teamwork and talking, from its previously planned release window of 2025 to 2026. The extended development reflects the ambition. Panic is willing to absorb delays and costs to ship something genuinely unique rather than chase trends.
The question facing Panic now is whether audiences still reward that kind of integrity. Indie games have become more crowded. Streaming has changed how games find audiences. Nostalgia-driven reboots and franchise extensions dominate chart positions. In this landscape, a small Portland publisher betting on a walking simulator about communication feels almost quaint.
Yet Panic's track record suggests they understand something their competitors don't: not every game needs to appeal to everyone. Not every game needs to optimise engagement metrics. Sometimes a game just needs to be genuinely good, genuinely weird, and genuinely theirs. If Big Walk lands even half as well as Untitled Goose Game did, Panic's gamble will have paid off. If it doesn't, they'll likely release something else strange and wonderful anyway. That's the bet they've made.