Los Angeles-based Look North World, a user-generated content game studio and publisher led by founder and CEO Alexander Seropian, a founder of Halo developer Bungie and an ex-top executive at Disney’s former game development unit Disney Interactive Studios, has raised an additional $2.25 million, bringing its total seed funding to $4.5 million.
The financing round, unveiled on Tuesday, was led by London Venture Partners, “with participation from strategic partners Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund, Overwolf, Crush Ventures, the venture arm of Crush Music, toy giant Hasbro, Pix Capital, and returning investors Hibbard Road Partners,” the company said.
Look North World also unveiled the launch of its Creator Label, a curated program designed to support and elevate individual makers building on creator platforms, such as Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft. The first signed creators include Austin “Tom Jank” Rodriguez and Jon Jungemann of Sloth Games.
“With 15 games in development featuring major IP deals, Look North World will use the investment to accelerate the creation of original games while reinventing how games are built using user-generated content (UGC),” the company said on Tuesday. “Look North World leverages new and emerging creator platforms to build games for millions of existing players” while “embracing the fast pace of UGC platforms – contrasting with the years-long development cycles typical of traditional studios.”
In the wake of Electronic Arts’ divestment of mobile games and closure of studios, including Seropian’s Industrial Toys, the executive turned his attention to emerging platforms. “The answer came in the form of Epic announcing Unreal for Fortnite, along with a creator payment pool to incentivize serious development within Fortnite,” according to the Look North press kit. “The prospect of releasing new games every two to three months, with experimental gameplay and a massive audience, was too much of an opportunity to pass up.”
The company has so far developed and published several games on Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN), including Dream Job Tycoon, a series of mini-games (Cart Attendant, News Delivery, Lawn Care, Professional Boxer, Taxi Driver, Deep Sea Diver, Dancer, Bird Photographer, and Miner) with a tycoon-style progression system, tactical shooter game CNTRL, and Don’t Press the Button, whose description reads like this: “Loot the maze and build your loadout, or Press the Button to ‘press your luck’.”
Look North has also released two premium mods, which allow the alteration by players of one or more aspects of a video game, for survival game Ark: Survival Ascended. “Its Ark x Power Rangers Premium Mod, a collaboration with Overwolf, Hasbro, and Studio Wildcard, has already surpassed 800,000 units,” it said.
“There is a tectonic shift occurring in the games industry, reinventing how games are made and brought to market. At Look North World, we have embraced this evolution by choosing to build within platforms that allow experimentation, quick iteration, and access to a massive audience,” said Seropian. “Our Creator Label, which mirrors our approach to embracing UGC as the future of gaming, enables us to support creators and take risks on games that would otherwise never get greenlit.”
On its website, Look North describes itself as “a merry band of digital wizards who transform caffeine into code, pizza into pixels, and sleepless nights into epic adventures!”
“Look North World is a great partner for the Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund as a company with a foundation of game-making know-how and founders who have created blockbusters in traditional games now looking to apply their pedigree and vision to what the new generation of gamers want to play,” said Yoyo Yang and Natsuhiro Maruyama, investors at Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund.
“Investing in Look North World cements our belief in user-generated content being a core pillar of the future of gaming,” said Matt Bilbey, venture partner at London Venture Partners. “As UGC platforms expand and gain market share, talented teams are leveraging them to push boundaries and create diverse, immersive experiences at an unprecedented pace.”
The Look North World team, including CEO Alexander Seropian (far left)
Courtesy of Look North World
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