Raph Koster’s Playable Worlds is inching a little closer to a playable world thanks to another cash infusion.
GIbiz reports that the company has raised another $25M in investment in a Series B funding round. That’s in addition to the at least $2.7M in seed funding in 2019 and a $10M Series A round reported in 2020, though Koster has clarified not all the funding has been made public. Notably, the lead investor in this round was South Korea’s Kakao Games, well known to our audience for its global MMOs.
Koster, the veteran MMO designer behind Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online, has previously characterized his project as a metaverse platform for MMORPGs, including one designed by Playable Worlds itself, though that was last September before the entire industry pivoted to chase the metaverse rabbit. Last year, Koster wrote that his team is “reasonably far along on building” a “modern sandbox MMO” on the platform; he’s said the game is “at least a few years out,” though we have yet to see a formal announcement or name.
“While we’re not yet ready to peel back the curtains, this funding round will help accelerate us closer to sharing more with prospective players, with a focus on providing a deeper and more meaningful experience consisting of rich simulations, organic content growth, and social mechanics,” Koster said in today’s press release; this particular investment is meant to bolster the team and the MMO specifically.
The Playable Worlds team has sent along two new concept pieces today:
Further reading:
