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'Portal Knights' Developer Keen Games Raises $10m of Investment For Upcoming Multiplayer Sandbox RPG

by Rainier on July 20, 2021 @ 10:01 a.m. PDT

Keen Games will use Hiro and Tencent’s $10 million to expand game development and to publish their upcoming open-world sandbox title, a spiritual successor to Portal Knights.

With this new capital investment, Keen has a bright future as a well-funded studio equipped to retain its creative and publishing independence. Keen Games is currently hiring multiple positions for their next massive project, and interested parties can send a CV or Resume to jobs@keengames.com.

“We are delighted to be investing in such a stellar team.  From the first moments playing their game prototype, we knew that they were on track to bottle lightning again and build upon the success of Portal Knights, a game that has been played and enjoyed by millions of people around the world”  said Cherry Freeman, a co-Founding Partner at Hiro Capital.

“Hiro was founded to work with great games entrepreneurs to help them scale, whilst keeping control of their destiny. Jan, Pete, Antony, Jonas, Dennis, and Julien are world-class creators at the top of their game and we are excited to be backing their vision” said Ian Livingstone, co-Founding Partner at Hiro. 

  • Keen’s new title will be the spiritual successor to Portal Knights which sold over 3.5m copies and has been played by many millions more;
  • The Keen team is led by Jan Joeckel, Pete Walentin, Antony Christoulakis, Jonas Drinnenberg, Dennis Ranke and Julien Koenen.  All are veterans of the games industry who have been making games for the last 30+ years;
  • The studio is developing an open-world, multiplayer sandbox action RPG where players can build their own kingdom, explore, fight and adventure together in a world full of mystery;
  • The game will be cross-platform on PC and console;
  • Keen now want to take their destiny into their own hands by self-publishing their next title and Hiro and Tencent’s investment allows them to build out this muscle;
  • In addition to building the new game, the studio has developed their own voxel-based engine which allows them to create a massive, living open world that is fully interactive and terraform-able – allowing players an unprecedented level of UGC creative freedom;
  • The game is scheduled for release in 2023;
  • This is Hiro Capital’s 16th investment overall and the eighth studio to join the portfolio alongside Twin Suns, Polyarc, Double Loop, Snowprint Studios, Flavourworks, Lightfox, and FRVR. 

“We are incredibly excited to start a brand new chapter for Keen Games with the development of our next title and transition to a self-publishing studio.” Said Jan Joeckel, CEO of Keen Games. “We found in Hiro and Tencent two very strong partners that are aligned with our vision of taking the studio to the next level.”

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