Last March, we could see several new studios being created by Playground Games veterans wishing to launch new projects. Among them is Lighthouse, an initiative of Gavin Raeburn, co-founder of Playground Games. Today, the new studio benefits from a rather important investment which should help them well.
Tencent sniffed out Lighthouse’s potential
It is indeed the Chinese giant Tencent which has just invested in the Lighthouse studio founded by Gavin Raeburn and around thirty other colleagues and industry veterans. Raeburn spoke to our colleagues at Gameindustry.biz during an interview.
“This investment is financial and we retain control over our game and our destiny as a studio, although we also look forward to building a strong relationship with Tencent,” Raeburn told the site.
“We have always prided ourselves on building great, trusting relationships with the publishers we work with, and that will continue to be a priority going forward.
Our goal is to be the best at everything we do, and Tencent’s investment and continued support will enable us to achieve this ambition.
An investment of this magnitude allows us to grow our team and realize our game vision while remaining completely independent, while leveraging the skills and experience of one of the largest video game publishers in the world.
This fresh start also allows us to build our game from the ground up, with no technological or architectural constraints to circumvent. The chains are broken. It’s really liberating.”
As always, these statements are rather optimistic and focused on the studio’s values and future projects. Raeburn recalls that despite this investment from Tencent, Lighthouse is independent and will retain control over its creative and editorial decisions. Tencent will provide assistance with recruitment and logistical, material and new technology support.
Lighthouse is already working on an unannounced AAA through a totally unreleased IP. The studio is based in Leamington Spa, England, just like Playground Games, but also like Maverick Games, another studio founded by Mike Brown who is the former creative director of Forza Horizon.
