Riot Games made a huge splash in the gaming realm with the launch of League of Legends, a multiplayer team battle arena game, in 2009. The same creative minds behind this continually successful franchise have banded together again to found The Believer Company. The new gaming development studio launched Tuesday with fresh funding to create its first title.
Believer is spearheaded by CEO Michael Chow, the former VP of Riot Games where he was the executive producer of League of Legends: Wild Rift. This online mobile game is a modified version of its PC-based namesake. Steven Snow works alongside Chow as Believer’s CPO. As a founding member of Riot Games, Snow was the executive producer for the original League of Legends game that’s still popular today.
Other members of Believer’s founding team are also gaming industry veterans. Some executives hailing from Riot Games include Beliver’s CTO Landon McDowell and the company’s COO Tim Hsu. Believer’s CCO Jeremy Vanhoozer previously worked at Electronic Arts and Bungie. This expert team is deadset on the goal of serving games built with technology and features that players find fun.
Believer pulled in $55 million in Series A capital from lead investor Lightspeed Venture Partners and others including Andreessen Horowitz. The round follows seed funding from Riot Games, Tornante Company and others and will go toward expanding Believer’s team of tech talent.
The company aims to be a team of 50 people within a year, but will only grow its headcount as fast as its progress demands, according to Snow.
“World-class R&D takes time. It requires a lot of risk-taking, it requires both creation and discovery, it requires flexibility,” Snow told Built In via email. “One of the best things about this funding round is that we have the flexibility to shape the best team possible without cutting corners on the vision.”
With a foremost focus on the player experience, Believer plans to create a next-generation open-world game. The net title will be characterized by an original intellectual property, stories that are affected by the player’s choices and gameplay systems that bring players together.
Additionally, Believer is aiming to ensure its new franchise will resonate with audiences across multiple media outlets, including games, film, television, collectibles and real-world interactive experiences. The company has partnered with Michael Eisner, former Disney CEO and current CEO of investment firm the Tornante Company, to help it achieve this vision.
“We have lots of experience doing this with League of Legends, but when we started Believer, we knew we’d need to level up if we want to achieve what players truly deserve here. That’s why we’re thrilled to have a partner in Michael D. Eisner. … There’s no one with the same wealth of wisdom when it comes to developing and nurturing franchises,” Chow told Built In via email.
Believer will grow the intellectual property it’s currently nurturing into both music and television, Chow said. The company has “grand ambitions” that go beyond this expansion but details are being kept under wraps for the time being, Chow said.
