Ex-employees of Blizzard and Epic Games set up new game studio

Some former employees of Blizzard and Epic Games have raised $5 million to start a new game studio called Lightforge Games. This new studio will focus on renewing RPGs.

The new studio was founded by Matt Schembari, Dan Hertzka, Nathan Fairbanks, Glenn Rane and Marc Hutcheson. In addition, six other ‘experienced’ employees have been hired. Together, the game developers have earned their stripes at Epic, Blizzard, Riot, Bioware and Zenimax Online.

Lightforge CEO Matt Schembari wants to rethink how RPGs are played with the studio. “We have a passion for social and creative games. We want to combine certain game elements from games such as Minecraft and Roblox with those of traditional RPGs,” says Schembari. “Making a game has to become part of the game,” he told Forbes. According to Schembari, it was still too early to reveal concrete details about new projects.

The cash amount, $5 million, was raised from companies Galaxy Interactive, NetEase, Maveron, 1UP Ventures, Dreamhaven and other industry investors. In the past two years, other former Blizzard employees have also spawned game companies, including former Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime with Dreamhaven, Tim Campbell with Frost Giant, Chris Metzen and Mike Gilmartin with Warchief Gaming.