Lightforge Games Raises $15M In Series A Funding For New UE5 Creative RPG

Lightforge Games, a new studio founded by Blizzard Entertainment and Epic Games veterans, have raised $15 million in a Series A funding round. This is in addition to the $5 million that the studio raised when they opened the studio in May 2021.

The funding round was led by Bitkraft Ventures with participation from NetEase, Galaxy Interactive, and Dune Ventures. Other investors include several high-profile gaming personalities including Twitch Co-Founder Kevin Lin, Oculus Co-Founder Nate Mitchell, Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt, and popular Twitch streamer Imane “Pokimane” Anys and her talent management agency RTS.

The accrued funds will go towards the development of a new unannounced RPG which will be developed using Epic’s Unreal Engine 5. The game will feature creative elements like Minecraft combined with the vivid storytelling found in tabletop RPGs.

“Games are at their best when they create a shared experience. Our team is building a game that looks to push the boundaries of the stories and worlds players can create together. In raising this round of funding, and doing so with an amazing set of partners, we’ll be able to continue to expand the team to meet our ambitious goals,” said Lightforge CEO Matt Schembari.

“The Lightforge team’s credentials speak for themselves,” added Bitkraft Ventures, “but their vision really came to life for us when we had a chance to look behind the scenes and see the amazing progress that the team had made in such a short time.”

“It’s already an incredibly fun and captivating experience, and I’m not surprised that this group of exceptional founders and executives across gaming, streaming, and interactive media is rallying behind the Lightforge team to take them to the next level, and cheer them on as they continue to push the boundaries and perception of video games,” they added.

The official press release can be found on the Lightforge Games official site.