Newcastle games maker Red Rover Interactive nets £12m investment to accelerate debut title

Games developer Red Rover Interactive has secured a $15m (£12.05m) investment led by South Korean gaming publisher Krafton.

The Newcastle headquartered specialist in multiplayer survival genre games, which also has Norwegian studios in Oslo, announced the Series A round which features the backing of Tirta Ventures and Overwolf, alongside existing investors GEM Capital, Acequia Capital, Likelike Capital, The Games Fund and Behold Ventures. The city centre firm will use the funds to boost development of its debut title, so far codenamed Project Coltrane, including an intention to create 25 jobs.

It comes less than a year since Red Rover was created by a team with experience across the industry including at studios Ubisoft Reflections and Funcom. Last June the business raised $5m (£4.01m) in seed funding.

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It hopes Project Coltrane will usher in a new era of survival gameplay by delivering what it says is a fast-paced and replayable player-vs-player experience set in a post-apocalyptic world featuring a train. Red Rover says the game is intended to "challenge the conventions of the survival genre".

Krafton is a gaming giant which reported revenue of £1.06bn for 2022 and has published games worldwide. The 17-year-old company is responsible for multiple games studios across the world including PUBG Studios, Vector North and RisingWings, among others.

Fred Richardson, Red Rover CEO, said: "Our rapid progress to date can largely be attributed to our commitment to validation driven development, deeply involving our community and content creators right from the get-go. It has been a cornerstone of our development philosophy, ensuring we really focus on the most impactful things to our playerbase over everything else."

He added: "We're extremely excited to be working with Krafton given their unmatched pedigree in the PVP space. Having them, alongside our other fantastic investors and partners onboard, is incredibly validating for the entire team at Red Rover. This support not only fuels our development efforts but also reinforces our belief in Project Coltrane's potential to resonate with gamers globally. We're looking forward to revealing information about the title in the coming months as this train continues to gather pace!"

Maria Park, VP, head of corporate development division at Krafton, said: "Investing in Red Rover Interactive feels like championing 'the right people' crafting 'the right game'. Their commitment to player-centric, iterative development resonates strongly with PUBG's ethos, emphasizing player feedback and iterative design. We have had the privilege of witnessing their immersive development approach first-hand during weekly playtests with players and streamers.

"The remarkable progress demonstrated in each updated build has been a testament to their passion and expertise. Also, drawing from Fred's experience, the team has ingeniously tackled common challenges in the sandbox survival genre. We're thrilled to partner with Red Rover and support the team's vision for Project Coltrane."