Former Riot Games Devs Form The Believer Company, Secure $55 Million For New Open-World IP

Some Riot Games veterans have started their own studio and are planning on developing a brand new IP.

Founded in April 2022 by Michael Chow, The Believer Company secured over 24 million dollars in unknown Series funding last November. On March 7, it was announced that The Believer Company secured 55 million dollars in Series A funding from 1UP Ventures, Riot Games, Clevland Avenue, Lightspeed Venture Partners, The Tornante Company, BITKRAFT VENTURES, and Andreessen Horowitz. An additional funding round finished on March 7 for an undisclosed amount.

Considering the team of industry veterans already a part of The Believer Company, it's easy to see why investors have confidence in Believer. Already on board are Michael Chow, Steven Snow, Landon McDowell, Grace Park, Tim Hsu, Jeff Jew, Shankar Gupta-Harrison, Jeremy Vanhoozer, and Julien Bouvrais.

Michael Chow is the former Vice President of Riot Games and Executive Producer of League of Legends: Wild Rift. He is also the Founder of Jolly Company and Newtoy (Developer of the insanely popular Words With Friends). Steven Snow is a founding member of Riot Games and a former League of Legends Executive Producer. Jeff Jew served as an Executive Producer for Legends of Runeterra for over 15 years, and Grace Park served as a Senior Product Manager for Wild Rift.

Tim Hsu functioned as a Head of Growth and Director, Strategic Advisory for Wild Rift, and Landon McDowell was Head of Technical Operations for Wild Rift. Shankar Gupta-Harrison was a Senior Publishing Advisor at Riot Games, and Julien Bouvrais put in 14 years at Eidos-Montréal, most recently as Chief Technology Officer. Jeremy Vanhoozer most recently spent time as Head of Art over at Bungie.

In the company's first press release, believer Company announced its successful funding round and hinted at what's next for the company. Believer Company will initially use the funds to recruit more members for their already formidable development team. There are currently 18 open positions on Believer Company's website.

Believer plans on creating a next-generation open-world game with an original IP. They say that the intent of this new title is for the players' choices to matter and to have a core gameplay loop that brings players together. Comments made by some investors, including Michael D. Eisner, suggest that Believer Company's debut IP may not be limited to just a video game and will cover multiple entertainment mediums.

Believer Company's founding motto is Credo In Ludos, or I believe in games. Based on the success of their funding round, it's clear a lot of folks believe in Believer Company as well. Stay tuned for more updates on this new, potent development studio!