Super Evil Megacorp Raises $10.5M Financing Round, Hands Off Vainglory Development

Mentioned in this article

• Super Evil Megacorp has raised a $10.5M USD financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
• The studio is working on a new cross-platform game called “Project Spellfire,” which will release in 2020.
• Further development on cross-platform MOBA game Vainglory has been handed off to Rogue Games via a publishing partnership.

Game developer Super Evil Megacorp (SEMC) has closed a $10.5M financing round to develop its next game, the company announced, and has passed development duties of Vainglory on to a partner studio.

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the financing round, and SEMC has now shifted its focus to “Project Spellfire,” a cross-platform game that has yet to be detailed. According to a blog post, the studio has been “prototyping some groundbreaking new styles of gameplay for cross-platform play” ahead of a planned 2020 release.

With the new project on the horizon, SEMC has partnered with Rogue Games, which will take over most of the development and future upkeep on Vainglory. The League of Legends-esque mobile MOBA game launched in 2014 before adding PC and Mac versions with cross-play support earlier this year.

According to the blog post, Super Evil Megacorp has restructured its developmental model to be more accommodating to remote employees, and has had some executive moves in recent months. Co-founders Stephan Sherman and Bo Daly have departed to found a new startup that is currently in stealth mode, while new SEMC additions include Chief Revenue Officer Volkan Ediz (ex-Machine Zone) and Art Director Eduardo Gonzalez (formerly of Riot Games).

Vainglory previously had a growing professional esports scene that featured regional leagues, live championships, and teams such as Cloud9 and G2 Esports in the mix. However, the game had what SEMC CEO Kristian Segerstrale described as a “painful year of adjustment” in 2018 following a shift to a 5v5 play format, and earlier this year, the studio announced that it would no longer oversee esports efforts for the game.

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