Tencent Invests in Playground Games Co-Founder’s Recently Opened Lighthouse Games

Chinese tech company Tencent has invested in the recently-opened AAA studios from Playground Games co-founder Gaving Raeburn – Lighthouse Games.

Back in March of this year, the co-creator of the Forza Horizon series announced the opening of his new UK-based studio, which started out as a team of 30 experienced developers and former collegaues. “I’m delighted that 30 former colleagues and other industry heavyweights have chosen to join me at Lighthouse”, Raeburn said earlier this year. “With Horizon, Playground and I created one of the most successful Xbox franchises of all time. We delivered significant commercial success year after year, to massive critical acclaim, following the success from my time at Codemasters leading Dirt, Grid and F1. That DNA is now at Lighthouse, and with it, we intend to build something truly special using all our experience to create a new genre-defining franchise.

As now being reported by Gamesindustry, Tencent has invested an unspecific amount in the new AAA studio, which allows the studio to build its upcoming title from the ground up. “The investment is financial, and we retain control over our game and destiny as a studio, though we are also looking forward to forging strong links with Tencent,” the Forza Horizon creator told Gamesindustry.biz.

“An investment of this scale allows us to grow our team and prove the vision for our game and remain completely independent, whilst still leveraging the skills and experience of one of the world’s largest video game publishers,” Raeburn continued. “This new beginning also enables us to build our game from the ground up, with no legacy tech or architecture to work around.

He added, “”The shackles are off. It feels truly liberating.”

We know that Lighthouse Games is currently working on an announced new project, and is hiring industry talents. We’ll update you as soon as more information about Lighthouse Games and its new project comes in.