Build a Rocket Boy, a Scotland-headquartered sport growth firm based by one of many former lead builders behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, at this time introduced it has raised $110 million in a Collection D spherical of funding.
The funding comes forward of the much-anticipated launch of the corporate’s first titles and immersive open world platform.
Leslie Benzies is maybe higher generally known as the previous president of Rockstar North, driving growth of its smash hit Grand Theft Auto sequence ranging from the third instalment in 2001, by each subsequent title till departing the company in 2016 following a 17-month sabbatical. That very same 12 months, Benzies initiated legal action towards his former employer, arguing that he had successfully been kicked out and denied a share of the sport’s income. A considerable portion of the complaints were thrown out in court two years later, with the events finally reaching a confidential settlement in 2019.
All through a lot of this, Benzies was laying the muse for his subsequent huge challenge.
Leslie Benzies Picture Credit: Austin Hargrave / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Initially referred to as Royal Circus Video games (named after a prestigious tackle within the firm’s dwelling metropolis, Edinburgh), attorneys representing Rockstar guardian firm Take-Two Interactive argued that the “RCG” acronym was strikingly just like Rockstar Video games (RSG), and was intentionally designed to confuse. Whether or not its name-change was a direct results of this accusation isn’t clear, however Royal Circus Video games morphed into Build a Rocket Boy in 2018 and went on to raise at least $40 million in funding to develop and commercialize a collection of recent titles.
Whereas these have but to see the official mild of day, the corporate has teased a brand new immersive open world platform referred to as Everywhere, pitched as “community-driven gaming” the place gamers can construct their very own world — in what might maybe be construed as something akin to Roblox. And then there is MindsEye, touted as a “story-driven action adventure.”
Each titles are slated for launch “in the near future,” whereas the corporate can be introducing a collection of user-generated content material (UGC) design instruments it calls Arcadia.
“I started Build A Rocket Boy so that I could continue to share the stories I love with players and give them a place to create and share,” Benzies stated in a press release. “We believe in a future where game creation is put in the hands of the players, and we will empower them with the tools to help shape this vision with us.”
Construct a Rocket Boy’s Collection D spherical was led by New York-based funding agency RedBird Capital Partners, with participation from NetEase Video games, Galaxy Interactive, Endeavor, Alignment Development, Woodline Companions, GTAM Companions, amongst others.
Apart from its headquarters in Edinburgh, Construct a Rocket Boy has opened extra growth hubs in Budapest (Hungary) and Montpellier (France).
