Lightforge Games was founded in 2020 by veterans from Epic Games, Blizzard Entertainment and other AAA studios and focuses on creating storytelling-rich player experiences. The studio is developing a major unannounced RPG that blends elements of Minecraft or Roblox with tabletop‑RPG‑inspired, open-ended narratives. That project is being built in Unreal Engine 5. Lightforge currently employs 18 developers, has an open salary policy, and is actively hiring to support ambitious growth targets. The company has attracted a number of high-profile industry figures as supporters and angel backers. CEO Matt Schembari said the $15 million round and its partners will help the team meet its ambitious goals and push the boundaries of player-created stories and worlds. Lightforge Games is an all-remote studio building a cross-platform social video game focused on enabling players to create worlds and tell stories collaboratively. The team aims to redefine how developers make role-playing games and emphasizes emergent, shared storytelling rather than classic UGC publishing. The studio is led by CEO Matt Schembari, a former lead engineer at Blizzard and director of user interface at Epic, and includes veterans from Blizzard, Epic, Riot, Bioware, and ZeniMax. Lightforge has 11 people and is on the verge of hiring three more, and it is hiring for remote roles. The company is based near Epic Games in Raleigh, North Carolina and raised $5 million to open the studio.

Total raised

$20M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Mar 2022