Quietly, a group of Epic Games veterans have left to start a new company – and investors are betting millions on its success.
Raleigh’s Lightforge Games, which lists Epic veteran Matthew Schembari as CEO, has raised $5 million from 10 investors, according to a securities filing.
Until January of this year, Schembari was director of user interface at “Fortnite” developer Epic Games in Cary. There, he led the UI team for "Fortnite," – Epic's global smash-hit game with hundreds of millions of users. Schembari was responsible for Front End systems such as the Battle Pass, Challenges, Store, Social and Lobby, he said on his LinkedIn page.
Prior to that, he served eight years at Blizzard Entertainment, acting as lead software engineer, UI, and working on games such as “Heroes of the Storm” and “StarCraft 2.”
Schembari declined to comment on the raise.
Also listed in the filing as executives are Nathan Fairbanks, a former senior producer at Epic Games; Daniel Hertzka, former lead programmer at Epic; Marcus Hutcheson, former marketing director at Epic; and Glenn Rane, former principle artist and art director at Blizzard Entertainment.
Sam Englebardt is listed as director. He's a co-founder at Galaxy Digital and managing partner of its interactive division. The firm invests in video game studios.
Lightforge incorporated in March under the name Double 20 Games Inc. The firm changed its name to Lightforge in May, state records show.
According to its Pitchbook profile, Double 20 is developing a video gaming platform “designed to create new social games.”
“The company’s platform is focused on experimenting new online games, enabling users to play new games,” Pitchbook notes.
As for Epic Games, it's had a big 2020. The company capped a $1.78 billion raise and is now valued at $17.3 billion. In recent months, it's been in the headlines for its legal battle with Apple (Nasdaq: APPL) after the tech giant booted "Fortnite" from its app store.