Scotland-based games company Realtime Worlds has raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Maverick Capital and existing investors New Enterprise Associates and WPP also participated. TechCrunch broke the story in March.
That’s a lot for a games company. Admittedly Realtime has an exclusive partnership with Microsoft Game Studios and its first title, Crackdown for Xbox 360 in early 2007, sold about 1.4m copies. But the money looks likely to head towards it’s online games development. Realtime Worlds already runs All Points Bulletin, a massively multiplayer online game. I can tell you right now, VCs are highly interested in that space.
The fact it is based in Dundee (and Boulder, Colorado) is no coincidence. The firm was founded in 2002 by Grand Theft Auto creator Dave Jones, ex-of Rockstar Games in Dundee, and now has 200 employees. (Release)
Woot! Go the Scots!
It’s a sunny day here in Edinburgh, and this news has put an even bigger smile on my face! Nice.
I visit Dundee quite often, thanks to family connections. It was once described to me by an Edinburgh VC as Realtime, plus 50 two-person startups, many in the games and mobile space. (Vis of Earthworm Jim fame used to be there, too.)
It’s a high-tech hub, with Abertay Uni running a highly successful games development course and Dundee Uni running the NESTA-backed Starter for 6 scheme that supports up to 20 new companies per year.
A deal of this scale is a considerable breakthrough, which should do well for Scotland as a whole.
I refuse to believe that it’s sunny in Scotland, sorry.