Look North World is a pioneering UGC (User Generated Content) game studio and published led by Alexander Seropian, the founder of Bungie and a former executive at Disney have announced that they have managed to raise a total of $4.5M for seed funding. The second round of fundraising for seed funding had contributions from London Venture Partners, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Hasbro, and many more.
Along with the seed funding, Look North World has announced the launch of its Creator Label, a curated program dedicated to supporting and boosting individual creators who build on creative platforms. In total, 15 games are being created with major IP deals, allowing Look North World to invest in accelerating the creation of original games using UGC.
Using the Creator Label, Look North World aims to provide end-to-end support for creators in the UGC gaming sphere. Creators signed to the label will receive guaranteed benefits, such as an advance, long-term ownership of intellectual property, a marketing budget to distribute their contributions, and a team of industry professionals who can help with artistic and technical support.
So far, the first signed content creators to the label are Austin ‘TomJank’ Rodriguez and Jon ‘SightedSloth’ Jungemann. TomJank is known for creating Dream Job Tycoon, and SleightedSloth has worked on various tycoon games across the Epic Games Store creation applications.
“Investing in Look North World cements our belief in user-generated content being a core pillar of the future of gaming. As UGC platforms expand and gain market share, talented teams are leveraging them to push boundaries and create diverse, immersive experiences at an unprecedented pace. We invest in people, and Alex and his veteran team are pioneers, notably during previous growth waves of console and mobile. With Look North World they continue to reshape how games are built and published,” says Matt Bilbey, Venture Partner at London Venture Partners.
Look North World has a selection of games available at the moment, such as Dream Job Tycoon on Fortnite, the Ark Survival Ascended x Power Rangers Cosmetic Pack, Carrera Coast, Outlaw Corral, and Don’t Push the Button, which are all available in Fortnite.
“Look North World is a great partner for the Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund, as a company with a foundation of game making know-how and founders who have created blockbusters in traditional games now looking to apply their pedigree and vision to what the new generation of gamers want to play,” said Yoyo Yang, Principal of the Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund.
