Former Blizzard Developers' Studio Secures Nearly $1 Million in Funding from Players

The concept of crowdfunding is familiar to many, with numerous Kickstarter campaigns successfully bringing games to market over the years. However, equity crowdfunding is less common. Frost Giant Studios, developer of the upcoming real-time strategy game Stormgate, launched an equity crowdfunding campaign via StartEngine earlier this year, allowing players to purchase shares in the company. The campaign aims to raise between $15,000 and $5 million, with the current total nearing the $1 million mark. CEO Tim Morten explains that this campaign is designed to enable the studio to self-publish Stormgate, maintaining creative control and decision-making authority. Morten notes that while working with a publisher can provide marketing expertise and capital, it also means sacrificing some of that control. The studio has already secured $34.7 million in Seed and Series A funding from investors such as Riot Games, Bitkraft, and Kakao Games, among others. Additionally, a successful Kickstarter campaign for Stormgate raised $2.4 million from over 28,000 backers. Despite having already secured significant funding, Morten believes that the current investment opportunity allows players to be part of the studio's success. He emphasizes that big games require substantial investment, and with the goal of launching Stormgate strongly, the studio wants to be on par with AAA games from other publishers. Frost Giant was founded by former Blizzard developers, including Morten and Tim Campbell, who gathered a team of experienced developers to create their own game engine, SnowPlay, and work on Stormgate. The studio's approach to real-time strategy games focuses on approachability, teamwork, and social experiences, aiming to make the game more accessible to new players while retaining the core experience that fans of the genre love. Stormgate will be a free-to-play title, and the team's experience with transitioning StarCraft II to a free-to-play model in 2017 has informed their approach to live service models and the types of content that resonate with players. With a popular demo released during February's Next Fest, Frost Giant is preparing to launch Stormgate in Early Access this summer, with a roadmap for full launch dependent on community feedback.