Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: gaming, The Believer Company, video games

Former Riot Execs Launch New Studio: The Believer Company

Several former executives from Riot Games have formed a new studio called The Believer Company, with a large seed of funding.

Several gaming industry veterans, many of whom used to be executives at Riot Games, formed a new studio this week called The Believer Company. The company revealed that it has secured $55 million in Series A financing to help build the studio and get started on their first game, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. (The round was funded with the key support of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), along with 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.) The other big announcement with this is that they are working on a new IP, and according to the info released this morning, will be a next-generation open-world game "where player choices matter, and gameplay systems that bring players together rather than pushing them apart." We have more info on the company below as we now wait patiently to see what they produce.

Believer's leadership team includes veteran developers, producers, and visionaries responsible for seismic shifts in the video game medium. Former Riot Games Vice President Michael Chow will serve as CEO of Believer, inspiring the team with a love for player service cultivated as Executive Producer on League of Legends: Wild Rift and Co-Founder of Words with Friends developer Newtoy. Chow is joined by Chief Product Officer Steven Snow, a founding member of Riot Games who built the studio's player-focused culture and executive-produced League of Legends to a meteoric rise and massive, long-term success. 

Chow and Snow are joined by CTO Landon McDowell (Microsoft, Riot Games, Linden Lab), CCO Jeremy Vanhoozer (Bungie, Electronic Arts), COO Tim Hsu (Twitter, Riot Games), CMO Shankar Gupta-Harrison (Riot Games, Dentsu X), Director of Operations Grace Park (League of Legends: Wild Rift), and VP of Design Jeff Jew (League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra). Their founding motto—Credo In Ludos, or, "I believe in games"—underscores every team member's personal commitment to making and playing games as a lifelong calling, and not merely a business. Believer is further supported by several strategic partners and advisors who have pushed the boundaries of popular culture, technology, and interactive art, including entertainment and media industry leader Michael D. Eisner, former McDonald's CEO Don Thompson, and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!