A studio formed by former developers of Sky and Journey has raised $35 million to develop a "friendship sandbox" game
As a result, its valuation reached $190 million.
Concept art of Gardens
We are talking about Gardens Interactive, a studio founded five years ago by former leads of thatgamecompany. As reported by Bloomberg, it received funding as part of a Series B round. Among its investors are Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital, Accel, Index Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Zenith Capital, Sora co-author Thomas Dimson, and several so-called angel investors.
Gardens Interactive plans to spend the allocated $35 million on refining and post-launch support of its debut game. The studio hopes this amount will be sufficient to sustain the title's development for about a year after its release.
The team is currently working on a game called Gardens—a mix of "friendslope" and "sandbox" set in a continuously evolving fantasy world. According to the developers, one of the upcoming title's unique features is that the actions of some players will affect the experience of others. They were partly inspired by Death Stranding but have adapted it in their own way. The platforms and release date for the game have not been disclosed.
This is the third time Gardens Interactive has received investments. It was granted $4.5 million shortly after its founding in 2021 and an additional $31.3 million in 2023.