Hidden Leaf Games has funded the development of a 3-on-3 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game using $3.2 million in funding from investors. The studio will also use the money for its new game studio.
Hidden Leaf Games is a Los Angeles-based developer founded by David Li and Bao Lam in October 2019. Li is the CEO of Hidden Leaf, while Lam is the president. The duo are industry veterans who previously worked in major studios including, Zynga, PUBG Corp., and Riot Games. The pair said they established Hidden Leaf Games with the aim of developing PvP titles that focused on “competitive mastery, core progression and social play.”
The seed funding round was led by Lightspeed Ventures partner Amy Wu. There were also contributions from Vermillion Ventures, Eden Chen (Pragma CEO), Logan Margulies (Riot Games head of live support), and Alex Paley (the VP of Product at Scopely).
Hidden Leaf Games has also recruited Steve “Guinsoo” Feak, who will lead the design team. The DOTA: All-Stars map was designed by Feak, who has been credited with helping define the MOBA genre. He also inspired games like League of Legends and DOTA 2, which both carry on his legacy.
“We’ve honed in on finding special founders in every category, including gaming, and so at a high level our thesis is around founders who have great pedigrees in gaming,” Wu commented. “David and Bao are part of a new generation of free-to-play game makers and they have completely bootstrapped their game. They were able to convince great people to work with them. We really love to see that hustle.”
Lightspeed Ventures’ Wu revealed in an interview that she was impressed by Lam and Li being able to hire industry leaders like Feak and others for their MOBA’s debut title. She also acknowledged that this a remarkable feat as searching for talent is highly competitive in the gaming scene.
The studio’s debut MOBA title will be called Fangs and is set to go for closed alpha testing at the end of this month. Beta testing is expected to start later this year. Unlike other multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA) games, Fangs has well-defined player roles, and does not have large maps that require hours to complete.
Hidden Leaf Games team currently has 32 staff, all working remotely on the project in various countries including the U.S., UK, Argentina, Brazil, and India.
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