Naked and Hungry: Ex-Leaders from Funcom, Lockwood, and Bohemia Secure $5M to Evolve the Hardcore Survival Genre with New Studio ‘Red Rover Interactive’
Industry Vets Look to Unlock New Possibilities in Multiplayer Gaming, Fueled by Behold Ventures, The Games Fund and Lifelike Capital
Newcastle, UK - June 22, 2023: With the goal of creating truly captivating multiplayer experiences and shaking up the survival genre in the process, brand new studio Red Rover Interactive can today lift the lid on its future plans.
The new outfit - which has already established bases in the Norwegian capital Oslo and Newcastle in England’s North East - has been founded by games industry veterans who collectively worked on series such as Conan Exiles, Dune Awakening, DayZ, Avakin Life, Crysis 2, Ryse, and Ghost Recon, amongst others.
Red Rover’s goals? Initially, to utilise the studio’s considerable collective experiences working with successful multiplayer-focused IP to catapult the survival genre in a new direction, placing player agency and drama front and centre. And more long term? In the developer’s own words, to “create the most novel and engaging multiplayer experiences on the market.”
“We believe multiplayer interactions are fundamentally more powerful than PVE ones,” says Red Rover Interactive CEO Fred Richardson. “This is something most persistent online games don't leverage, often being built as single player experiences that support many players. We plan to lean into this, starting with the survival genre which we are intimately familiar with, taking it in a genuinely new direction.”
Red Rover Interactive is headed up by: -
- CEO Fred Richardson (Funcom, Ubisoft Reflections)
- COO Joe Stevens (Lockwood Publishing, Ubisoft Reflections)
- Design Director Marek Zilavy (Bohemia Interactive, Funcom)
- Technical Director Daniel Ratzer (Funcom)
- Art Director Sebastian Zimmermann (Nordeus, Jagex, Crytek)
Red Rover Interactive is focused on cultivating mid-sized, close-knit, co-located teams. This begins with the foundational team of 17 members, most of whom have collaborated previously, leveraging their significant shared experience. From a creative standpoint, the studio aspires to produce titles designed for infinite engagement, perfectly suited to the age of content creation.
The studio has already secured significant seed investment from Behold Ventures and The Games Fund, as well as other participating investors such as Lifelike Capital, GEM capital, Acequia Capital, and a suite of angel investors, coming in at just under $5 million.
Now, with its sights set on the horizon, Red Rover Interactive is calling on fearless developers with a thirst for the extraordinary to join its ranks. Developers ready to shape genre-defining projects in Oslo or Newcastle are invited to step into the ring.
Red Rover Interactive is open to interviews at this stage. Please make contact through our PR.
About Red Rover Interactive
Red Rover Interactive Limited is an independent UK based video game developer founded in February 2023. The company has offices in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK and Oslo, Norway, and focuses on development of large scale persistent online titles.
About Behold Ventures
Behold Ventures is a Nordic-based, early-stage, venture capital fund, focused on investing in startups in the video games industry. Founded in 2021 by games industry veterans Karl Magnus Troedsson, Sigurlina Ingvarsdottir and Magnus Kenneby, Behold Ventures financially supports, and strategically advises, entrepreneurs during the first steps of launching their own businesses. The fund makes equity investments in startups driven by ambitious and creative founders and is always looking for talented teams which are absolutely hellbent on creating the most amazing, interactive entertainment experiences of tomorrow.
For more information, please visit www.behold.vc.
About The Games Fund
The Games Fund (TGF) is one of the top early-stage gaming VC funds with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Cyprus. TGF is founded by hardcore gamers and industry veterans, invests in future leaders worldwide, and focuses on connecting game developers with the global entertainment ecosystem, providing support and personal touch to founders from the very beginning.
For more information, please visit www.gamesfund.vc.
