Industry vets from Riot Games, PUBG and other studios have raised $3.2mm in seed funding to launch new studio Hidden Leaf Games.
The Hidden Leaf design team is led by legendary game designer Steve ‘Guinsoo’ Feak, whose custom Warcraft III map DotA: All Stars birthed the MOBA genre and inspired smash hits League of Legends, DOTA 2, and more.
Global venture capital firm, Lightspeed Venture Partners, which has backed companies including Snap, Affirm, Epic Games and more, is leading the round, with strategic investors Vermillion Ventures, Logan Margulies (early Riot Games leader), Eden Chen (CEO – Pragma) and Alex Paley (VP of Product – Scopely) joining the round.
“From our first meeting with David and Bao, we knew they were special founders. They challenged convention, moved fast, and created a truly fun game in just months of development. It also takes pretty special founders to convince Steve Feak to come out of retirement and join as head of design,” said Amy Wu, Partner at Lightspeed.
Hidden Leaf’s studio mission is to create core PvP games that focus on competitive mastery, core progression and social play. This mission stems directly from the shared gaming experiences of studio founders Bao Lam (President) and David Li (CEO).
“Our friendship really developed because of competitive gaming and the definitive social experiences that came with it. Our friend circle followed the big competitive gaming trends, from MOBAs to Battle Royales, and that kept us connected even if we were physically far apart. Those hundreds of hours spent online competing together on voice chat defined our friendship.”
Bao and David saw a game market rich with opportunities to brawl against anonymous opponents, but oftentimes the grind of competitive play and myopic focus on the solo competitive experience left their group divided, the statement said.
“We wanted a game we could enjoy with a diverse group – average core gamers, esports pros, and occasional pop-in players – for thousands of hours. But it’s tough to find games with that mix of depth, ease of access, and replayability without someone feeling left out or bored. That’s why we made FANGS.”
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