Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster maker Frontier Developments has signed its first third-party publishing deal.

The Cambridge-based studio is down to release a new project from Bulgarian studio Haemimont Games of Surviving Mars fame. Marketing, production and distribution costs are covered in the deal.

This and future titles released by Frontier will be under the Frontier Publishing label.

"This is a strong start for Frontier Publishing -- we're delighted to partner with a studio of the quality of Haemimont," Frontier boss David Braben (pictured) said.

"Our Frontier Publishing initiative helps us to further expand our game portfolio through external development partnerships that supplement our own internal development roadmap. We are in discussions with other developers and hope to be able to announce further publishing partnerships in the future."

Haemimont CEO Gabriel Dobrev added: "Partnering with Frontier, who have a long history with great, innovative titles, is the perfect fit for us at Haemimont Games. We're proud to be the first partner for Frontier Publishing and can't wait to reveal details on our brand new project in the future."

Frontier has moved to a self-publishing model on the last few years and has had seen tremendous success with its own releases. Both Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Coaster have sold over two million copies each. 

The firm recently announced a fourth IP, Planet Zoo. This was one of nine trademarks that Frontier has registered recently featuring the word 'planet'.