Gaming startup Lightfury Games has raised $8.5 million in a seed round led by Blume Ventures, MIXI, Inc., and Gemba Capital. The CEO of Unacademy, Gaurav Munjal, and the founder of Cred, Kunal Shah, were among the other investors in this funding round. Two game studios will be established by the startup company headed by former Unacademy Chief Marketing Officer Karan Shroff. The first will be held in Bangalore, followed by the second in London. The startup intends to use the additional funding to create AAA games in India. It will start by concentrating on mobile gaming before moving on to other platforms, such as consoles.
Along with Shroff, Anurag Banerjee—who also holds the position of chief product and technology officer at LightFury—and Tina Balachandran—a former senior vice president at Unacademy—cofounded the company intending to build game studios in India and the UK and hire top talent.
AAA games are distinguished by large budgets, excellent graphics, and development and publication by well-known game companies or studios. They are typically released on a variety of platforms, including personal computers, consoles like the PlayStation and Xbox, and occasionally mobile devices. They feature sophisticated gameplay mechanics, copious amounts of content, and noteworthy marketing campaigns. Well-known series like Grand Theft Auto, The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, and Call of Duty are a few examples of AAA games.
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India has not yet produced a AAA game developed domestically, despite the rise of gaming unicorns such as Dream11, Mobile Premier League (MPL), and Games 24×7. Still, steps are being taken in this direction. Mayhem Studios, the mobile game development arm of the MPL, recently launched the beta version of Underworld Gang Wars, and SuperGaming, a Pune-based gaming studio, recently released the beta version of Indus Battle Royale.
Karthik Reddy, cofounder and managing partner of Blume Ventures said,
“The ability to piece together the talent and bring in believers from the gaming and consumer universe make it one of the most exciting investments we’ve made in this space”
Karan Shroff commented,
“I am thrilled to be joining hands with bonafide leaders and industry veterans to launch LightFury Games. The size of the gaming market in India is on the rise and it is an excellent time for us to bring our expertise into the industry. We intend to utilize the capital to focus on developing high-quality cutting-edge AAA titles in India, establishing our game studios in both India and in the UK; and hiring top-tier talent in the country to put India on the global map.”
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