First project already in pre-development stage
A team of former Riot Games executives has announced the founding of a new studio — The Believer Company has been founded on an initial budget of $55 million in Series A Funding, and is already in the early development stages of its first project: an open-world adventure based on an original IP.
Located in Los Angeles, the new studio will be led by former Riot Games vice-president Michael Chow, who is joined by Riot founding member Steven Snow. The initial team also includes CTO Landon McDowell (Microsoft, Riot Games), CCO Jeremy Vanhoozer (Bungie, Electronic Arts), COO Tim Hsu (Riot Games), CMO Shankar Gupta-Harrison (Riot Games, Dentsu X), Director of Operations Grace Park (League of Legends: Wild Rift), VP of Design Jeff Jew (League of Legends), Associate Game Director Juno Blees (League of Legends: Wild Rift), and VP of R&D Technologies Julien Bouvrais (Eidos, Ubisoft)
The Believer Company’s brand-new website features a litany of quotes and mission statements, many of which are written in hyper-ambitious and super-flowery fashion, as expected from a team of executives. The common thread to be pulled from said prose is that the Believer team is looking to take game development and production in exciting new directions, harnessing the forefront of modern technologies to vivify the studio’s incoming releases. While not openly stated, it is more-than-pointedly suggested by Snow that the studio is not looking into the use of blockchain/NFT tech in its games.
“Players are the best audience to serve in the world,” writes Chow of the new venture. “They’re noble, smart, discerning, and infinitely inventive. We hold their investments of time, skill, and hard-earned money as sacred, and we will always put their needs first at every stage of Believer’s journey. We look forward to growing our team with people as passionate as we are and we are actively seeking like-minded talent to believe with us.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to begin this journey with Steven [Snow]. He’s a loving, stalwart champion of players — at times viciously protective of their best interests. There’s no better flag-bearer for what we’re setting out to do.”
The Believer Company has several vacancies on its new team, which can be found on the website.
