Koch Media, the Saints Row publisher, whose name few could correctly, or consistently, pronounce, is getting a rebranding. The German-Austrian business is now Plaion.
Plaion is pronounced play-on, which makes sense considering its primary purpose (it has a small film business). Koch had been dubbed/mentally read/pronounced variously as Coke (like the right-wing political donor siblings); Kotch (as in Ed, mayor of New York from 1978-1989); Cook (like Jim Koch, co-founder of the Samuel Adams beer brewery), and, less politely, Cock.
A Plaion executive told VentureBeat in an interview Thursday morning that Koch Media, which was acquired by Embracer Group in 2018, was named for co-founder Franz Koch, which is pronounced cough. The name change isn't window-dressing, but is an indication that we're on a journey, and it's useful to give this journey a new name and visual appearance.
Kundratitz told VentureBeat that the decision was made internally by Plaion's leadership and that Embracer did not mandate it from the top. However, if they had said they disliked the name, we might have reconsidered it, according to Kundratitz.
A new logo, according to Kundratitz, was created to mimic the play button on most electronic devices.
Plaion, better known as Koch Media, is well-known for its Deep Silver publishing division. In 2007 and 2010, Deep Silver published GSC Game Worlds STALKER: Clear Sky and STALKER: Call of Pripyat before releasing its first breakthrough release, Dead Island, for consoles and PC in 2011.
When the former THQs assets were liquidated in 2013, Koch Media acquired the Metro and Saints Row intellectual properties, as well as Saints Row studio Volition, which later became THQ Nordic in 2016 and Embracer Group in the future.
Embracer acquired Koch Media in February 2018. It also purchased Saber Interactive in August 2020, Borderlands creator Gearbox Entertainment in February 2021, and Dark Horse Comics at the end of 2021.