A group of ex-Sulake key names have announced a €547,000 ($740,000) funding round to their new venture, Small Giant Games, a developer of – you guessed it – free to play games for iOS and Android. Their first game has been in development for the last six months and is approaching alpha stage. “We’re really excited how the game is shaping up. It will introduce unique gameplay elements to a familiar genre, in a fun rescue story setting,” says CEO Otto Nieminen.
Small Giant Games is made up of a few names you might remember from Sulake, the creator of Habbo, which laid off around 60 people, or about 2/3 of its staff, before being acquired by Elisa last February. Founders of Small Giant include CEO Otto Nieminen, once head of Sulake’s product development, CTO Markus Halttunen from the same position, and Timo Soininen, once Sulake’s CEO. The other two founders are Ilkka Juopperi and Tommi Vallisto, who they describe as world class designers.
Their name Small Giant implies a small headcount, but they’re spending their funding round on talent. “We are actively looking for additional developers to further strengthen our team,” says Otto Nieminen, CEO. “We are offering fun challenges in a great environment, spiced with lucrative incentive packages.”
Not that this funding round has anything to do with the aftershocks of Supercell’s whopping 1.5 billion sale, but it will be interesting to see how more game studios, and funding rounds, pop up as the gaming scene speeds up its positive churn as new projects are started.
