A new $15 million funding Series A round has just closed for an unannounced RPG experience in the works by Lightforge Games. The studio, which was founded by industry veterans from studios like Blizzard, Riot Games, ZeniMax Online Studios, and Epic Games, closed the deal with Bitkraft Ventures, with several big-name angel investors.
The upcoming game, which is already in development using Unreal Engine 5, “combines the creative elements of games like Minecraft or Roblox and the open-ended storytelling of tabletop RPGs”. Lightforge Games was founded to produce what they call player-first RPGs. They currently have some roles open and are looking for people with experience building online experiences, among other skills. They are working on, as they say on their site, “bringing the roleplaying back into RPGs”.
“Games are at their best when they create a shared experience,” and the game “looks to push the boundaries of the stories and worlds players can create together”, according to Lightforge CEO Matt Schembari, and is intended to be a cross-platform and open-ended experience. With this new $15 million investment round, development will certainly get a push as they ramp up work on the as yet to be revealed experience. With studio personnel having worked on titles like The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, and Star Wars: the Old Republic, among other MMORPGs and related games, it’s definitely something to keep an eye on as development continues.
Some of the investors behind the new funding round include companies like NetEase, along with gaming figures like Twitch co-founder Kevin Lim, Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell, streamer Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys, Kabam co-founder Holly Liu, and Dennis “Thresh” Fong.
There’s no word yet on just when we can expect Lightforge to start making announcements, but work will continue. You can keep an eye on the Lightforge Studios site for more.
