Sacramento, California-based gaming studio Azra Games has landed another round of funding to develop mobile role-playing games (RPGs).
According to an Oct. 15 announcement, the company raised $42.7 million in a Series A round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from a16z Crypto, a16z Games and NFX. Across pre-seed, seed and the latest funding, the company has raised $68.3 million to date.
Behind the company is game designer Mark Otero, a former co-founder of mobile game developer KlickNation, the creator of RPG titles such as Superhero City and Age of Champions.
KlickNation was purchased by Electronic Arts in 2011 for $35 million. At the new studio, Otero developed Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, which generated over $32.5 million in revenue as of May 2024, according to data from Statista.
“I thought I was a retired game designer,” Otero wrote in a blog post about his career, adding that Web3 drew him back to gaming development to work on blockchain-based RPG titles.
Source: Azra Games
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Azra is building a free-to-play RPG game for mobile, promising to deliver the fourth generation of RPGs for Western audiences.
The funds will support gaming development and a research team at Azra Labs.
Led by Travis Boudreaux, the startup co-founder and chief technology officer, Azra Labs is exploring artificial intelligence applications to speed up the development of AAA mobile content.
Gaming development can be a lengthy process, and the last crypto winter put a strain on many studios seeking revenue streams from blockchain-based business models, such as play-to-earn. Yet the gaming sector appears to be attracting venture capitalists again.
VC firm a16z, for instance, recently announced $30 million in capital for gaming startups, including AI, VR/AR and Web3 games.
According to Cognitive Market Research, the global RPG market alone was valued at $18.73 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $38.46 billion by 2029.
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