Quick take:
- The proposed valuation of Emergent Entertainment exceeds $65 million.
- Simon Rutter spent 25 years at PlayStation.
- The company’s first Web3 gaming project, Resurgence, is currently in development.
The former executive vice president of Playstation, Simon Rutter, has joined Emergent Entertainment as Chairman, alongside CEO Ian Hambleton, the former CEO of Maze Theory.
Emergent Entertainment is a new video game studio based in London, formed after the merge of video game studio Maze Theory with blockchain veterans and developers Pluto Digital PLC. The merger follows a joint venture called Emergent Games between the two companies earlier this year.
The proposed valuation of the new business exceeds $65 million, and the company intends to prepare for a future IPO event.
Prior to joining Emergent Entertainment, Rutter spent 25 years at PlayStation with the last 10 years in senior international leadership roles including vice president of product marketing & sales planning, executive vice president, chief operating officer, and head of Europe business operations. Before that, he was a brand manager at Reebok from 1993-1997.
Also leading the game studio is Ian Hambleton, a successful entrepreneur of 20 years, having founded and grown creative businesses across tech, digital, gaming and green tech with Found Studio, Maze Theory and Ecologi.
As CEO of Emergent Entertainment, Hambleton plays a key role in launching the studio’s first forthcoming Web3 game, Resurgence, which is currently in development and takes players on a journey from present-day disaster to a post-apocalyptic future. The game gives players complete control to craft their own destinies by utilising resources in a unique community-based survival concept.
Emergent Entertainment benefits from the combined legacy of the two merged entities, the skills and experience of its employees, and its existing product portfolio and asset base to deliver mixed reality gaming, Web3 gaming and Web3 token services in a range of entertainment media.
With more than 60 developers and executives with extensive experience building AAA games, the game studio has four centuries’ worth of combined knowledge. Their aggregated CV includes: FIFA, NBA Online, The Sims, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, Lord of the Rings, Horizon Zero Dawn, Sniper Elite, Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom, Doctor Who: Edge of Time, Blood and Truth, and PlayStation VR Worlds.
“We are excited to bring together AAA game creators and advanced Web3 engineering skills in a way that hasn’t yet been seen. We are laser-focused on delivering the best games and experiences using technology that truly benefits players and new audiences,” said Hambleton.
Emergent Entertainment has already inked deals with several global entertainment properties, drawing on its expertise in making VR games for iconic shows such as Doctor Who and Peaky Blinders, with more VR game announcements to follow.
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