Ex-leaders of Funcom, Lockwood and Bohemia raise $5 million to evolve the hardcore survival genre with new studio ‘Red Rover Interactive’

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With the goal of creating truly engaging multiplayer experiences while shaking up the survival genre, brand-new studio Red Rover Interactive can today examine its future plans.

The new outfit – which has already established bases in the Norwegian capital Oslo and Newcastle in northeastern England – was founded by game industry veterans who have worked together on such series as Conan Exiles, Dune Awakening, DayZ, Avakin Life, Crysis 2, Ryse , and Ghost Recon, among others.

The goals of Red Rover? Initially to leverage the studio’s considerable collective experience working with successful multiplayer-focused IP to catapult the survival genre in a new direction, focusing on player choice and drama. And more in the long run? In the developer’s own words, to “create the most new and engaging multiplayer experiences on the market.”

“We believe multiplayer interactions are fundamentally more powerful than PVE interactions,” said Fred Richardson, CEO of Red Rover Interactive. “This is something that most hardcore online games don’t take advantage of, because they are often built as single-player experiences that support many players. We plan to capitalize on this, starting with the survival genre that we’re very familiar with, and take it in a really new direction.

Red Rover Interactive is led by:

• CEO Fred Richardson (Funcom, Ubisoft Reflections)
• COO Joe Stevens (Lockwood Publishing, Ubisoft Reflections)
• Design Director Marek Zilavy (Bohemia Interactive, Funcom)
• Technical Director Daniel Ratzer (Funcom)
• Art Director Sebastian Zimmermann (Nordeus, Jagex, Crytek)

Red Rover Interactive focuses on cultivating medium-sized, close-knit teams in the same location. This starts with the base team of 17 members, most of whom have worked together before, drawing on their considerable shared experience. From a creative standpoint, the studio strives to produce titles designed for infinite engagement, perfectly suited to the era of content creation.

The studio has already secured significant seed investment from Behold Ventures and The Games Fund, as well as other participating investors such as Lifelike Capital, GEM capital, Acequia Capital and a range of angel investors, coming in at just under $5 million.