Two former Riot Games executives have teamed as much as type a brand new studio that goals to make a “next-generation open-world game.”
This new studio known as The Believer Company, and it was based by former Riot vp Michael Chow, who will function the studio’s CEO, and founding Riot member and League of Legends government producer, Steven Snow, who’s now The Believer Company’s chief product officer. The Believer Company has already secured “$55 million in Series A financing,” too.
A press launch states that this funding is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and can “initially be put to work building a world-class team to deliver a next-generation open-world game, anchored by an original IP, stories where player choices matter, and gameplay systems that bring players together rather than pushing them apart.” The $55 million spherical was funded “with the key support of Andreessen Horowitz, plus additional seed funding from Bitkraft Ventures, Riot Games, 1Up Ventures, Don Thompson’s Cleveland Avenue, Michael D. Eisner’s Tornante Company, and other venture partners.”
“Players are the best audience to serve in the world,” writes Chow in a press launch. “They’re noble, smart, discerning, and infinitely inventive. We hold their investments of time, skill, and hard-earned money as sacred, and we will always put their needs at every stage of Believer’s journey. We look forward to growing our team with people as passionate as we are and we are actively seeking like-minded talent to believe with us.”
Snow provides that “the last few years have brought forward some very exciting technologies” and that “in our world, where the player is the focus, our goal is to bring select technologies into the development and gameplay spaces explicitly for the betterment of players and the games they love.” He provides that “bringing free-to-play to North America and Europe with League of Legends really changed the landscape of how games as a service could work.”
“It is our privilege to have the opportunity to help shape the future responsibly,” he continues. “And we are excited to say ‘no f***ing thanks’ to the technologies that won’t make the game more fun.”
The Believer Company relies in Los Angeles, California, however the studio will work with builders everywhere in the world.
