Ex-‘StarCraft’ developers raise £18.4million for Unreal Engine 5 RTS

Former Blizzard developers have raised £18.4million ($25million USD) to create a real-time strategy (RTS) game built with Unreal Engine 5.

The latest round of funding for Frost Giant Studios has raised £18.4million on the premise of creating an “epic” RTS game that’s set to be announced later this year.

The studio was founded by Tim Campbell, the lead campaign designer for Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, as well as Tim Morten, who served as production director for StarCraft 2.

As IGN reports, Frost Giant Studios has currently raised a total of £25.6million ($34.7million USD) to go toward its debut game. The latest round of funding has seen interest from some big names in gaming, as PUBG publisher Kakao Games and League Of Legends developer Riot Games have both pitched in funds.

Speaking to IGN, Morten said “this funding gives us the runway we need to ship the game we’ve envisioned,” and added that “this funding is a testament that the appetite for RTS remains strong in the global gaming community and we are encouraged to have leading companies like Kakao Games believe in what we’re building and supporting our journey.”

The funding will be reportedly used to recruit a further 20 people, find a new office, and pay for more ambitious technology to be used in the game. On that last topic, Morten elaborated:

“We’re always looking at ways to leverage the latest technologies to create a cutting-edge RTS game experience. We’re investigating and experimenting with new tools for animation, visual effects, and artificial intelligence. We’re also exploring innovative ways to fully integrate esports within our game and to support our future player community.”

In other news, Activision has failed to recognise the union formed by Raven Software staff by an allotted deadline, meaning the Game Workers Alliance will now proceed to file a union election.