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The Believer Company is a newly-announced game studio backed by a $55 million Series A funding round to develop an open-world game based on an original IP.
The studio was founded by several industry veterans, including Steven Snow and Michael Chow, both previously of Riot Games. Snow was a Riot co-founder and League of Legends executive producer. Chow is Riot’s former Vice President. Other members of the leadership team at Believer include several other Riot veterans, and others, including those formerly at Electronic Arts, Linden Lab, and Bungie.
In a press release announcing the company, its leadership team, and first project, the emphasis is on developing player experiences. The company’s logo is Latin for “I believe in games”. In the release, Snow emphasizes that commitment to creating something for players to get deeply into. “In our world, where the player is the focus, our goal is to bring select technologies into the development and gameplay spaces explicitly for the betterment of our players and the games they love,” he says.
As for that funding, some of that comes from Bitkraft, which is continuing to invest in new companies with modern projects. Other investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Riot Games, and others. Lightspeed’s Moritz Baier-Lentz, who also joins the company’s board, even gives a further hint at what we might expect from Believer.
“Forget preconceived notions about building, selling, and marketing franchises atop $70 entry fees and strictly authored, immovable stories,” he says.
Though it might be Snow who sheds some of the most light:
“Bringing free-to-play to North America and Europe with League of Legends really changed the landscape of how games as a service could work. It is our privilege to have the opportunity to help shape the future responsibly. And we are excited to say ‘no fucking thanks’ to the technologies that won’t make the game more fun.”
We’ll have to wait and see just what Believer announces down the line.
