A startup from the developers of Mass Effect and League of Legends has attracted $5 million in investments
Elodie Games studio raised $5 million. She’s going to make cross-platform games.
Elodie Games Office
Elodie Games is a startup of Christina Norman and David Banks.
They have impressive track records:
- Norman has been in the industry for 15 years. She was the lead designer of BioWare‘s Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, as well as the design director of League of Legends: Wild Rift, a version of League of Legends adapted for mobile and consoles;
- Banks is a veteran of Riot Games, one of its first employees. He was vice president of product and executive producer of League of Legends. More recently, he worked on the so-called Project A. Riot Games announced this competitive shooter in October.
Together, Norman and Banks plan to make online games with a greater emphasis on the social aspect. According to them, players are interested in cooperative gaming, but it is often difficult for them to play because of the difference in skills, location, time zones. The main task of Elodie Games is to create games where these problems are solved, writes VentureBeat.
“We believe that games are inherently social,— said Kristina Norman. — At Riot Games, we helped create League of Legends and introduce it to the audience. We were inspired and surprised by the stories of the players about how they played LoL with their friends. These stories touched us and convinced us that games are not just entertainment.”
It is not yet known in what genres the team will work. The creators only mentioned that they will experiment with game mechanics. All Elodie Games games will be exclusively cross-platform. The studio will focus on ensuring that the gaming experience does not depend on the device on which the user is playing.
Now Elodie Games consists of five people. Norman and Banks plan to look for talented specialists, including in Los Angeles. The studio itself is located in his suburb — Venice (California).
The main investors of the startup were Andreessen Horowitz and 1Up Ventures funds. Andreessen Horowitz will also provide Elodie Games with access to a large operating platform. 1Up Ventures was founded by a big industry figure — former vice president of Microsoft games publishing Ed Fries. Both investors were attracted by the studio’s creators’ view of game development.
