1047 Games raises $6.5M to create no cost-to-play shooter Slipgate

1047 Games has raised $6.5 million to create out its no cost-to-play, Portal-like shooter game Slipgate.

Based remotely and in Zephyr Cove, Nevada, the game studio currently launched Slipgate in early beta type in 2019 to a positive fan and crucial reception. The game enables players to run about in a sci-fi atmosphere and location portals, which can be used to quickly move to an additional portal in the identical atmosphere. That mechanic offers players a lot of tactical maneuvers to outwit opponents in a multiplayer game.

The game is a homage to Valve’s Portal, which came out in 2007, and Portal 2, which debuted in 2011. Valve has considering that left the franchise in a fallow state, providing 1047 Games the opportunity to come up with a spiritual no cost-to-play multiplayer successor. In a way, it is surprising that Portal could lead to a complete genre of games like Slipgate, but kudos to 1047 Games for recognizing the chance.

Galaxy Interactive led the round, with participation from VGames, Lakestar, and 1Up Ventures. The new dimension of player-controlled portals in a sci-fi has carried the game so far, and 1047 Games has spent the last two years enhancing the game. It will now use the funding to substantially enhance the production of in-game content for the layal fans and ramp up marketing and advertising efforts to get new players. It’s also hiring new developers.

1047 CEO Ian Proulx mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat that the venture revenue will assist elevate Splitgate to a major-tier multiplayer encounter. He described it as a quick and intelligent shooter that gives a fresh take on the competitors.

“We fill a void, as there are a lot of battle royales and hero shooters out there,” Proulx mentioned. “Our game is unique within its genre, and it fills a void in player-versus-player shooters.”

Origins

Proulx, who has been playing games considering that he was seven, began work on the game in 2019 as a no cost arena shooter-style on the net game whilst he was attending Stanford University as a laptop science big. The game was his senior project, and it went on to get a loyal fan base right after many big updates.

“This started off as an idea I had maybe 10 years ago after playing Valve’s Portal games,” Proulx mentioned. “I just fell in love with the concept of these two portals players go through portal. I loved Portal and Portal 2. I thought to myself at the time this would be really interesting in other types of games, specifically FPS games, which is what I grew up playing.”

Proulx asked his mates to play with his Stanford project to validate it. It was finals time and no one had time to spare. He asked them to play for 45 minutes and they agreed, only to wind up playing for 5 hours.

“That was the ‘aha’ moment for me,” he mentioned. “That was the founding of this. I started to think I was on to something and I should turn it into a company.”

The name of the corporation is the identical as the address quantity for his dorm, exactly where he lived with his cofounder Nicholas. They worked on it for about six months without the need of funding. Then they had been capable to get some pre-seed funding. And rather than release a final solution, the corporation designed a minimum viable solution to get into the hands of customers for testing. Then they began constructing a grassroots neighborhood. The game got about 600,000 downloads in its initial month.

“We were definitely not anticipating that,” he mentioned.

Today is the two-year anniversary of the initial public testing. The player base remains tiny, but the game has had a lot of tinkering.

The corporation has opened fundamental monetization with the sale of a battle pass and “skins,” or character outfits, that are sold as cosmetics in an item shop.

“When it comes to game design philosophy, we have a very similar philosophy to games like Fortnite and Rocket League, where we say it’s easy to learn, difficult to master,” he mentioned. “The portal mechanic makes it something that anybody can pick up. The entire game has been very designed to be accessible to the masses. It’s very simple where you can run and run and have fun with it. In order to master it, it’s going to take you hundreds and hundreds of hours. That is our unique selling point.”

Bigger plans

Proulx gathered a group of about 25 men and women. He at the moment operates out of Lake Tahoe and most of the staff are working remotely about the U.S. and even New Zealand.

Richard Kim, common companion at Galaxy Interactive mentioned in an e mail to GamesBeat that the portal mechanic is elevating the FPS genre and it is awesome the corporation did it with such a tiny group.

“With Splitgate and its innovative portal mechanics, 1047 Games is elevating the FPS genre,” mentioned Kim. “It’s astounding what such a small team has been able to accomplish, creating a AAA quality game at a fraction of the cost. We’re incredibly excited to back this team, and we can’t wait for the world to create tons of memorable moments while playing Splitgate.”

Eitan Reisel, the managing companion at Vgames, mentioned in a statement that he was impressed with the level of production and noted how reviewers like IGN mentioned Splitgate is like Halo meets Portal.

Previous funding rounds such as Draper Dragon and Draper University Ventures bring the total funding to more than $10 million. Major new announcements from the 1047 group are planned
to start out in June. In the coming months, 1047 Games is searching to expand to 40 or 50 men and women.

“It starts with Slipgate,” Proulx mentioned. “We’re all in on Slipgate but we’ve got future game ideas that we want to pursue at some point.”

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz