Bad Robot Games Announces $40+ Million Series B Raise Led By Galaxy Interactive Along With Horizons Ventures And ICONIQ Capital

Bad Robot's Expanding Video Games Division also Adds Accomplished Industry Vets Joe Rumsey and Oneil Howell

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May 18, 2021, 12:00 ET

LOS ANGELES, May 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bad Robot Games, Bad Robot's video game division, announced today that it has completed a $40+ million Series B raise to create games that are as compelling to watch as they are to play. This round was led by Galaxy Interactive, with participation from existing investors Horizons Ventures, ICONIQ Capital and Tencent. The financing follows the formation of its internal development team, Bad Robot Games Studio, and the hiring of CEO Anna Sweet in early 2020.

"Galaxy, Horizons and ICONIQ Capital comprise a veritable VC Dream Team, and we are grateful to have their continued support as we look to change the way people interact with and view video games," said Sweet. "With this funding, we are able to build out both the studio and co-development sides of our operation, and create games that cross platforms, cross mediums and are based on IP originating from both games and linear content. We are very much looking forward to announcing our first titles."

Bad Robot Games will use the new capital to build out its internal Games Studio, and further evolve towards its goal of building cross-medium stories and worlds. Bad Robot Games' first internally developed title will be an original AAA game. As with the company's other projects, this title will be developed in collaboration with Bad Robot's Film, TV and Animation departments, as well as tap into Bad Robot's network of artists and creatives. More details to come later.

Led by General Partners Sam Englebardt and Richard Kim, Galaxy Interactive invests at the intersection of content and finance, with a particular focus on videogames and game studios, social platforms and marketplaces and blockchain and other Web3 and infrastructure technologies powering the interactive sector.

"Bad Robot is one of the most forward-looking and creative companies in the industry" said Englebardt. "I've known Brian (Weinstein, President and COO of Bad Robot) and Anna for many years and the opportunity to join forces with them as they grow their videogame division was something we couldn't miss. Consistent with Bad Robot's long history of creative innovation, I'm certain they're going to develop and bring to market revolutionary titles that will change and advance the way that we visualize, interact with and, more broadly, define games."

Brian Weinstein, President and COO of Bad Robot said: "In closing this round of financing, we are incredibly grateful for the confidence and faith our financial and strategic partners have showed in all of us and particularly in the leadership team at Bad Robot Games. Under Anna's guidance and with a growing, creative and experienced leadership team, we can't wait to build and release our games." In addition to appointing Sweet as CEO, who was part of the original business team that built the Steam platform at Valve, and led the content and developer strategy team for Oculus and Facebook's VR products, Bad Robot Games also named Left 4 Dead Creator and Lead Designer Michael Booth as the General Manager of Bad Robot Games Studio.

To support the studio's plans, Bad Robot Games has added celebrated industry vets Joe Rumsey (as Technical Director), and Oneil Howell (as Senior Level Designer) to the team.

With 25 years of games industry experience, having worked on the original World of Warcraft team, Rumsey has a deep passion for online architecture and multiplayer games. Previously, he spent four years as a Software Engineer at Facebook. Howell is an accomplished Level and World Designer, who will focus on creating majestic and experiential game worlds with a heavy emphasis on architecture, geology, culture, and tools management. He previously worked at Oculus in its R&D division, and on Just Cause 3 and 4 at Avalanche Studios.

With this new raise, Bad Robot Games is growing the internal development and co-development teams, and will continue to ramp up the team with additional hiring.

About Bad Robot
Bad Robot was formed by filmmaker J.J. Abrams in 2001. The company has produced television series such as Alias, Lost, Fringe, Person of Interest, Castle Rock, Westworld, Lovecraft Country and Little Voice; feature films such as Super 8, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, the Star Trek, Mission: Impossible and Cloverfield franchises; and interactive content including the mobile app Action Movie FX. Bad Robot's first foray into publishing, S., a novel conceived by Abrams and written by Doug Dorst, was a New York Times Best Seller. In 2018, the company launched Loud Robot, an artist-friendly independent music label, and Bad Robot Games, a new entity dedicated to developing large and indie-scale original games for mobile, PC and console. Bad Robot is based in Santa Monica and can be followed at twitter.com/bad_robot and instagram.com/bad_robot.

Interested applicants: https://badrobotproductions.applytojob.com/apply

SOURCE Bad Robot Games