Stratosphere Games enters next phase with new investment round

Berlin, 22nd of August 2022: Berlin-based, cross-platform developer and publisher of online games, Stratosphere Games, led by CEO/Founder Kristian Metzger and COO Daniel Ullrich, announces an investment round by Riot Games, 1Up Ventures, and Skycatcher. In addition, the company received a grant from the German Games Fund ("Computerspieleförderung des Bundes").

The total funds of over 3M Euros will be used for the next step in the company’s roadmap by developing a cooperative-looter-shooter named "Desolation". The game is set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world and is designed as a multi-platform title. It will feature a shooter mechanic that will bridge the experience gap between different platforms.

"We share Stratosphere's approach of developing games with and for the players. Riot Games believes in the power of communities and so does Stratosphere," says Jake Perlman-Garr of Riot Games Investment. "For our unique portfolio of innovative movers and shakers in the gaming world, Stratosphere is a perfect fit," says Ed Fries, General Partner at 1 Up Ventures.

“In 2020, we led Stratosphere’s seed round and have been incredibly impressed to how the team has scaled up by building a unique culture and creating a robust pipeline of innovative titles. We’re excited to continue to invest in this next phase of the company and beyond,” adds Sia Kamalie, Founder of Skycatcher.

With its new title, the company aims to develop an entire cross-platform IP to finalize the transformation into a major developer and publisher of live games and living worlds. As a first step, the company has already increased its headcount to 67 with over 22 nationalities and expects to grow to 100 by end of 2023.

"While operating and growing our current products, we will slowly shift our focus to the creation of our own cross-platform IPs that will extend the boundaries of what is possible on all devices and media forms." Stratospheres CEO Kristian Metzger says.

Fall 2022 will see the long-awaited start of this transformation with the release of Homeworld Mobile and the early access of Dawn of Ages. While the former is published by Gearbox Interactive with support from Stratosphere, the latter will be entirely self-published.
 

More information about “Stratosphere Games" is available on www.stratosphere-games.com.

 
ABOUT STRATOSPHERE GAMES
Stratosphere Games is a modern development studio and publisher of online games founded in 2015. The core idea of the company is the production of high-quality core MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online Games) for mobile devices and other platforms. In cooperation with publishers worldwide, the over 67 strong team in Berlin-Mitte works on well-known brands such as Homeworld Mobile.  

ABOUT RIOT GAMES
Riot Games was founded in 2006 to develop, publish, and support the most player-focused games in the world. In 2009, Riot released its debut title, League of Legends, to worldwide acclaim. League has gone on to be the most-played PC game in the world and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports. With League in its second decade, Riot is continuing to evolve the game while delivering new experiences to players with Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, VALORANT, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Riot Forge, and multiple work-in-progress titles. Riot is also expanding the world of Runeterra through multimedia projects across music, comic books, board games, and Arcane, its popular animated series.
 
Founded by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, and led by CEO Nicolo Laurent, Riot is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and has 3,000+ Rioters in 20+ offices worldwide.

ABOUT 1UP
1Up Ventures is a venture fund focused on building a community of independent game developers. Founded by Ed Fries, former vice president of Microsoft Game Studios and a co-founder of Xbox, Fries opened the fund in 2019. 1Up Ventures is located in Kirkland, Washington.

ABOUT SKYCATCHER
Skycatcher is an investment management firm with a single, relentless mission: to invest in building the next generation of the Internet—the Internet of digital worlds. The Austin, Texas based firm invests exclusively in Internet and software companies across a spectrum of public, private, and venture companies. They employ a highly concentrated mandate that is supported with deep fundamental research, acting as business owners alongside founders, and engaged product enthusiasts. Skycatcher has backed some of the leading video game companies globally, seeded the newest success stories from India and Bangladesh venture ecosystems, and recently launched crypto-native strategy to support the evolution of tokenized protocols.