Ex-StarCraft and Warcraft Devs Raise $25 Million to Make an Unreal Engine 5 RTS

Frost Giant Studios, a debut developer formed by ex-Blizzard staff, has raised $25 million to help create a brand new real-time strategy game in Unreal Engine 5.

Frost Giant – which was founded by Tom Morten (production director on StarCraft 2) and Tim Campbell (lead campaign designer on WarCraft 3: The Frozen Throne) – was founded in 2020 with the goal of creating an “epic” real-time strategy game. It’s latest round of funding brought in $25 million from the likes of Korean publisher Kakao Games (PUBG), Riot Games (League of Legends), and more.

In total, Frost Giant has raised $34.7 million for its debut project, and the game is now set to be formally announced later this year.

Speaking to IGN, CEO Tim Morten explained the several ways that influx of money will be put to good use. First and foremost, it will help Frost Giant make the RTS it has always been aiming to create.

“This funding gives us the runway we need to ship the game we’ve envisioned,” he explains. “As you know, creative vision isn’t always a straight line, so the ideas we have today may morph based on what we feel would make for the best player experience. For us, this funding is a testament that the appetite for RTS remains strong in the global gaming community, and we are encouraged to have leading companies like Kakao Gaming believe in what we’re building and supporting our journey.”

Other benefits for the game include turning the 30-person team into 50 people, helping fund a new HQ to house them all, as well as adding extra technology to boost the game’s looks and performance – which is being built in the impressive Unreal Engine 5. “We’re always looking at ways to leverage the latest technologies to create a cutting-edge RTS game experience,” Morten explained. “We’re investigating and experimenting with new tools for animation, visual effects, and artificial intelligence. We’re also exploring innovative ways to fully integrate esports within our game and to support our future player community.”

As for what that game will be, Frost Giant is staying a little more tight-lipped – although we’ve gotten some clues. As you’d expect, the team is drawing on its huge experience in the genre, having made some of the best-received RTS games of all time, but Morten makes clear that this doesn’t mean his new project will simply be a throwback:

“We absolutely want to make the best RTS game possible, one that existing fans and new players alike will be excited to play on day one,” he explains. “The Frost Giant team is fortunate to have the benefit of learning from our experiences on StarCraft and Warcraft, and those experiences suggest some clear new directions to explore. We’re also setting out to make RTS more approachable to players who may have, in the past, felt intimidated, while still providing modes that can support world-class esports.

“We think we can do it and we’re committed to our mission because of how much we love the genre and its players. We hope everyone who loves RTS as much as we do will be excited to learn more about what we’re up to when we give players a first look at our game later this year.”

The latest press release about the game adds that the game is aiming to support co-op play, be entertaining to watch as an esport, and will welcome mapmakers.

Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.