Overkill's The Walking Dead for PS4, Xbox One & PC gets new publisher

Overkill Software's The Walking Dead will arrive on PS4, Xbox One and PC in 2016 and has a new publisher in the form 505 Games, who also published Overkill's Payday 2.

It isn't the most surprising news, but it is the first we've heard of the first person co-op game since its announcement and reveal trailer at Gamescom last year. The game will be set in the comic's canon rather than the TV show's and will explore "new characters and storylines", according to 505.

"505 Games partner[ship] with us on the console publishing for Overkill's The Walking Dead will streamline the distribution and marketing of the title in the traditional space and on the digital console marketplace," said Bo Andersson Klint, CEO of Overkill's parent company Starbreeze in a statement.

"Having worked together before on the successful Payday-franchise, we are certain this will be a fruitful collaboration."

The Walking Dead series has had one big hit and one huge miss when it comes to video games set in its wildly-popular post-apocalyptic world. Telltale's episodic story and choice-led games belong in the former category, while Activision's first person action game Survival Instinct was savaged by audiences in 2013.

Telltale's series is set in the same continuity as the TV series rather than the comics, like Overkill's new game. It's unlikely there will be any overlap that would cause confusion however.

Next up for Overkill however is the release of the Payday 2 remastered Crimewave Edition on PS4 and Xbox One in June.