Los Angeles-based independent video game studio Theorycraft has raised an additional $50 million in Series B Funding. The funding round was led by Makers Fund and saw participation from NEA and a16z.
Related: Immortal Game raises the total investment amount to $15.5 million
Theorycraft Games was founded by Joe Tung, Mike Tipul, Michael Evans, Moby Francke, and Areeb Pirani and it’s considered one of the most promising video game startups based in the US. The company also added Jon Belliss, former director of League of Legends to its roster. Legends of Runeterra’s director Andrew Yip also joined the team back in May 2022.
The gaming startup will use this new funding to boost the development of its first game called Loki. The company says its goal is to make “deep, 10000-hour long games that are just better when played with friends”
Loki will be a competitive team-based combat game, featuring inspirations from League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch, and Halo; the development team has members who worked put work in each of these titles.
Joe Tung, CEO and co-founder of Theorycraft Games believes “great games serve fundamental human needs” and this is exactly what brought both talents and investors to their cause. Tung said Theorycraft is a studio focused on addressing this and believes the team will leave a positive impact on the industry. Tung also shared the following message with fellow developers:
“If you’re a game developer who wants more autonomy and more impact; if you want to focus on making the deepest games in the world; if you want to hyper-serve an incredible community who has helped us get this far already—we’d love to hear from you!”
Jay Chi, founder of Makers Fund also commented;
“Beyond the pedigree of the talent base, we’ve been continuously impressed by Theorycraft’s pace of development and the quality of what they have delivered in under two years. Joe and team have created the perfect concoction in the modern game making — a systems-first, no-BS, get-things-done culture combined with profound design flair and a voraciously community-focused approach.”
Theorycraft Games aims to launch a large playtest in the upcoming weeks. However, the playtests are focused on North American players only, at least for the time being.
