New game studio – Ruckus Games – just announced the raise of $5.5 million in seed funding led by Transcend Fund. The round also included participation from Bitkraft Ventures and 1Up Ventures. Transcend Fund describes itself as a venture capital fund that focuses on partnering with ambitious and accomplished gaming professionals.
Ruckus Games was founded in August 2021 by veteran developers formerly of Gearbox Software and Riot Games. The current CEO is Paul Sage. Paul has been a game developer since 1995. He has been an industry staple working in leadership roles on titles such as Ultima Online, Tabula Rasa, Elder Scrolls Online, and Borderlands 3.
Other notable team members and their previous roles include:
– Jesse McIntyre CTO (Riot, Zenimax Online, and EA Mythic);
– Scott Kester, art director (Gearbox);
– Carl Shedd world director and lead lighting artist (id, Gearbox);
– Keith Schuler, master designer (3d Realms, Gearbox);
– Chris Strasz, gameplay and UX director (NCSoft, EA, Zenimax Online, Gearbox);
– Kevin Penrod, character art director (Gearbox).
The Texas-based company is apparently building a cross-platform cooperative game built with proprietary procedural technology.
