Peripheral maker Roccat is making its own game — ‘Sick City’

Gaming mouse, keyboard, and headset manufacturer Roccat has announced that it’s developing its own game: a real-time tactics title called Sick City. Said to draw inspiration from games like Commandos and Company of Heroes, Sick City looks to combine varied and colorful characters with “exciting espionage.”

Although peripheral companies can often stray into other hardware markets, it’s far less common for their software development to move beyond back-end customization programs for their various mice and keyboards. Mad Catz gave it a try, but that didn’t turn out so well, so Roccat fans will no doubt be hoping that their favorite mouse maker learns from the failings of its peers.

However, unlike the ill-fated Rock Band 4, which had its own controllers and a far-from-vogue game genre to contend with, Sick City’s early vibe is much more contemporary. It doesn’t require specialized equipment and its first promotional image features bright, colorful characters with big guns and vehicles, giving it a bit of an Overwatch, Splatoon vibe.

The game’s official site tells us that it’s set in a post-apocalyptic world, with competing factions all battling it out in the eponymous city. They’re fighting over a “mysterious crystalline energy source,” in four vs. four squads, slugging it out in “building to building” brawls.

Although the game is apparently being made at Roccat Games Studios, there’s been no word on where the various team members have come from. Engadget said that Roccat’s only statement on the matter was that “the team is composed of experienced developers that have worked at other game studios in Hamburg before.”

That doesn’t tell us much, but could suggest Roccat has managed to siphon off a few industry veterans from the likes of Bigpoint and Goodgame.

Out of character from a lot of contemporary game developers, who like to announce their games far in advance so as to slowly build up fan interest, Roccat’s first foray into game development is almost complete. It hasn’t announced how long it has been working on it, but we’re told that a closed alpha is coming in June and that it will enter Early Access later this summer.