This analysis is written by our friends at InvestGame. We recommend that you sign up for their weekly digest. And if you’re really hungry for insights, Invest Game offers exclusive access via Patreon.

A couple of months ago, our friends at Invest Game set out to look for the advantages ex-Riot employees have when securing investments. It turns out that ex-Riot founders typically secure larger average deal sizes and are more likely to close follow-up funding rounds compared to the broader industry. Check out the full study in case you’ve missed it. 

We’re incredibly grateful for all the valuable feedback you shared. Not only did it help us refine our methodology, but it also highlighted just how relevant this topic is! So, we’re excited to expand this research into a series. In the second edition of The Alumni Effect, we’re focusing on another industry powerhouse: Activision Blizzard, which also includes the mobile gaming giant King. In this second edition, we’ll try to answer the following:

• Do ex-ATVI founders raise more funding than the industry average?

• When was investment activity at its highest?

• Have any of these VC-backed startups reached notable success?

• What’s up with the exits?

• How is all this compared to ex-Riot?
  

  For quick answers, refer to our PDF featuring the essential data points from this article:

GDEV x InvestGame – Feature #5

For a comprehensive analysis, let’s delve into the detailed investigation below.

Methodology

First, we’ll often use “ATVI” or “Activision Blizzard” for convenience, but in all cases, we’re referring to all three branches, including King.

In this study, we focused on identifying companies founded by individuals who previously held senior roles at Activision Blizzard, typically within one or two levels of executive or director roles. We ensured each company was founded or led by confirmed ex-ATVI members, avoiding ambiguous phrasing such as “founded by ex-Activision employees” unless we could thoroughly verify this information.

Additionally, we included only companies that secured and announced a VC round from 2020 to date. This timeframe allowed us to select the most accurate data using our proprietary deals database.

Finally, we concentrated exclusively on the gaming industry. While this includes companies beyond game development — such as platforms, tech solutions, and web3 startups — all the entities in our study operate within the gaming sector. After all, that’s how they made it into our database. 

Ex-ATVI vs. Industry Average and Ex-Riot

Since 2020, startups founded by former ATVI employees have attracted nearly $0.7B in venture capital across 40 funding rounds. These investments have backed 28 gaming startups; likewise, former Riot Games employees have launched 27 companies, collectively raising $0.5B over 38 rounds during the same period.

The average check size for Early-stage VC-backed gaming studios has fluctuated notably between 2020 and 2024. Ex-Riot studios received some of the highest checks, peaking at $15.8m average in 2021, reflecting strong investor confidence in founders from Riot Games. Ex-ATVI studios saw a similar rise, reaching $10.7m in 2021 but experiencing a sharp drop to $4.2m by 2023, suggesting a reassessment of risk by investors. Other gaming VC-led deals followed a steady growth until peaking in 2022, after which the average check sizes declined across all categories, likely due to economic factors and increased caution in the VC landscape. In 2024 YTD, a slight rebound indicates cautious optimism but continued conservatism in investment size.

2021 was a record year for the startups founded by ex-ATVI, with $278m in disclosed funding among 8 rounds. A large share of this capital went to Mythical Games, which raised $225m over just two rounds. This year marked a peak in blockchain-based projects — a trend we examined closely in one of our previous Investgame x $GDEV collaborations — so it’s no surprise that some seasoned veterans chose to launch ventures in this space during the peak period. 

In 2024 YTD, ten deals totaled $49m in disclosed funding. While this is a decrease from previous years—$153 m in 2022 and $158m in 2023—the steady number of deals indicates continued VC interest in startups founded by ex-ATVI employees. This pattern aligns with broader VC trends in gaming: a surge in deal-making during 2021-2022, followed by a decline that remains above pre-pandemic levels. 

Out of the 28 companies that raised funding:

— 17 making PC&сonsole games, of which six are also developing for mobile platforms.
— 6 focusing on web3 projects, primarily content creators, with 5 in gaming and one mobile play-to-earn platform.
— 4 mobile games developers, founded mainly by former King’s employees.
— 1 tech company: a cloud with a modular architecture, Vital Game Studios.

Among those 40 rounds, there are 5 Late-stage transactions (Mythical Games (3 rounds), Theorycraft Games, Second Dinner Studios), one corporate (Nørdlight), and the rest are Early-stage VC: 29 Seed and 5 Series A rounds.

One of the most striking observations is the rapid fundraising pace among ex-ATVI startups. On average, these companies secure follow-on financing within 1-2 years of their previous rounds—well ahead of other VC-backed gaming startups. Our analysis shows that nine startups raised additional funding after their initial Seed rounds, highlighting robust investor demand and early signs of market traction or significant development progress. A similar trend was observed among ex-Rioters as well. 

A closer look at the VC deals reveals that several major gaming-focused funds—such as a16z, Griffin Gaming Partners, Galaxy Interactive, BITKRAFT, and Sisu Game Ventures—are pivotal in financing ex-ATVI startups. These five funds alone have participated across 18 deals with a total disclosed value of $0.5B, showcasing a solid commitment to the potential of former ATVI-led teams. Two funds — a16z and BITKRAFT — also ranked among the top investors in our analysis of startups launched by former Riot Games employees, indicating their ongoing interest in alumni-led ventures across the gaming industry.

Product Overview: Successes and Shutdowns

Many games from ex-ATVI-founded studios are still in development, with some struggling to overcome the hurdles to release. Though many startups are beginning to build their legacies, 13 studios successfully released titles. 

This means we already have some data to answer the critical question: How have they used these funds?

Second Dinner Studios — The Biggest Success

Second Dinner Studios was founded in 2018 by Ben Brode, a former Game Director at Blizzard with 15 years of experience. The company secured $100m in funding in Sep’23 (announced in Jan’24), just a month after releasing its first title, MARVEL SNAP — This multiplatform PvP collectible card game quickly achieved success, generating nearly 28 million downloads and $200m in IAP Revenue on mobile alone, according to AppMagic.

As for other platforms, the game maintains a stable player base of 9,000 to 10,000 concurrent players on Steam one year after its release. While the Marvel IP undoubtedly helped attract a broad audience of comic book fans, the game’s success ultimately rests on its own merits — it offers plenty of innovations thoroughly analyzed in this Deconstructor of Fun digest. This is undoubtedly one of the most successful startups we discuss today. 

Gulliver's Games — Mobile Gaming Venture

Gulliver’s Games, a Turkey-based mobile game developer, was founded in 2019 by Dogan Akdag, a former Senior Manager at Activision’s King. The company has developed two mobile titles—Word Tiles Puzzle: Word Search and Restaurant Tycoon. While neither became widely popular, they generated around 1.4 million downloads collectively. In Oct’24, the studio released a new game called Wordee!, but it’s too early to gauge its success.

Mythical Games — The Biggest Fundraiser 

Mythical Games was founded in 2018 by John Linden, the former head of Beachhead Studio, an Activision subsidiary that contributed to the Call of Duty franchise. Mythical Games is a web3 company focusing on in-game NFT exchanges and has four exclusive mobile titles (two released, two upcoming). While the company remains active, its native token has dropped 48% since its launch. Nevertheless, Mythical Games continues to develop titles for its proprietary blockchain.

Frost Giant Studios — Starting Rough

Frost Giant Studios was founded in 2020 by Tim Morten and Tim Campbell, veterans with deep experience in real-time strategy (RTS) games. It has quickly positioned itself as one of the most promising studios to emerge from the Activision Blizzard alumni network. However, its premier title launched as an early access Stormgate failed players' expectations. Currently, the game has only 49% positive reviews on Steam, and according to VG Insights data, 187,000 units have been sold. Players criticized the game for a weak campaign, a high barrier to entry, and poor graphics.

Crop Circle and Lightforge Games — The Shutdowns

Crop Circle was founded in 2022 by a lead programmer of World of Warcraft and was a subsidiary of Prytania Media. The studio raised $25m in Oct’24 to develop a narrative sandbox game based on an original IP. However, by Feb’24, the company began layoffs, and Prytania Media was officially closed in Mar’24.

Lightforge Games, founded in 2020, raised two funding rounds — $5m in a Seed funding round in May’21 and $15m in a Series A round in Mar’22. The studio developed Project O.R.C.S., a fantasy multiplayer RPG, but the project was shut down in May’24.

Exit Activity: Four Acquisitions, No IPOs

Between 2020 and the present, four startups—Action Face, Echtra Games, Firewalk Studios, and Snowprint Studios—were acquired compared to a single ex-Riot acquisition of Singularity 6.

Founded in 2018, Action Face is a user-friendly 3D avatar platform that allows users to capture, customize, and create 3D animations and action figures featuring their faces. In 2024, the company was acquired by Infinite Reality for an undisclosed sum. Its 3D avatar technology will be integrated into the Infinite Reality platform, enhancing personalization and dynamism for its users.

Founded in 2016 by Diablo co-creator Max Schaefer, Echtra Games debuted with Torchlight 3, a sequel to the well-known hack-and-slash action RPG franchise. The studio was acquired by Zynga in 2021 for an undisclosed amount. Echtra Games is working on an unannounced AAA ARPG for PC and console platforms.

Firewalk Studios, founded in 2018 as part of the ProbablyMonsters collective, specializes in creating multiplayer experiences. The studio was acquired by Sony in 2023. Its debut title, Concord, struggled to find its audience and was removed from sale two weeks after its official launch. Sony recently revealed that the title would be permanently shelved, and Firewalk Studios would be closed. 

Established in 2015, Snowprint Studios is primarily known for its mobile turn-based strategy RPG Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus. In 2023, the studio was acquired by the Sweden-based, mobile-focused gaming company Modern Times Group (MTG) for around $40m. This makes Snowprint Studios one of the best exits among the companies founded by ATVI alumni. The studio has also released other titles, including Legend of Solgard and Rivengard, which further showcase its focus on tactical and strategic RPG experiences.

The alumni effect is working!

What do we have so far? Let’s quickly sum it up:

1. The data shows continued confidence in alumni-founded start-ups, which reflected exceptionally well in the stable number of deals per year and the more significant number of follow-up rounds;

2. Major gaming-focused VC funds are interested in the expertise of former ATVI employees and invest capital in their startups;

3. It’s too early for many startups to measure the product results. However, there are already stories of success and failures; 

4. Ex-ATVI startups have attracted interest from other gaming companies, and four of these ventures have been acquired over the past four years.

5. There are a lot of similarities with ex-Rioters. Both raise more than the industry average and are still to show their results. 

Our findings indicate sustained confidence in startups founded by Activision Blizzard alumni. Whether in traditional gaming or emerging areas like web3, the industry pedigree of former employees continues to attract significant capital. Experience at a powerhouse like ATVI is an asset in capital-raising efforts, adding to investor confidence.

However, the recent downturn in fundraising affects not only ex-ATVI ventures but the entire gaming industry. A new concept alone is no longer enough; founders must present a clear vision for how their product will penetrate the market and cultivate a dedicated fan base. As player preferences evolve and the market grows increasingly competitive, many new companies face challenges in achieving lasting success. While experience from Activision Blizzard is a notable advantage, it’s clear that it does not guarantee success on its own.