Gardens was founded by brothers Chris and Stephen Bell, who’ve previously created games such as Journey, What Remains Of Edith Finch, Sky and Blaseball.
The studio was announced last year, and PSU got to talk to the Bell brothers about their intentions with this studio, and how they are looking to build incredible games in a sustainable way.
On Tuesday, the studio announced that it has now received $31.3 million in funding for its upcoming “ever-evolving online PvPvE fantasy adventure sandbox action-RPG” game, and we also got a look at some new concept art images for the game.
When we first heard about Gardens, all we knew is that it would be a multiplayer title. That it’ll be an online PvPvE action-RPG gives us a little more context as to what we can expect.
The funding came through following a behind-the-scens demo showcase of the team’s new title during GDC 2023, and Gardens can now add a lot of big names to its list of investors.
Among them include Sony’s former president Jack Tretton, the Nintendo Family, Krafton, former Take-Two chief executive officer Ben Feder, co-creator of Valorant Stephen Lim, and Mike Morhaime, and founder and former chief executive officer at Blizzard.
“It’s both inspiring and validating to see so much excitement around our vision for this game and studio,” said co-founder of Gardens and chief technical officer Lexie Dostal.
“Especially from these incredibly accomplished investors and partners. Folks with deep ties to Blizzard, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, PUBG, Riot Games, Tencent, and more are all coming together around Gardens; we couldn’t be more excited for the party we’ve assembled and the next chapter of our adventure together.”
Game director and co-founder Chris Bell says the game is “inspired by our favourite memories playing online RPGs, MMOs, and fantasy action-adventure games over the years, memories of crossing paths with strangers.”
“The game builds upon multiplayer ideas and lessons from previous titles I helped design like Journey, Sky, and even my student game Way, while brining players into a higher stakes, shapeshifting fantasy wilderness where cooperation is key, yet betrayal is still possible.
We’re including novel cooperative gameplay that rewards players who help each other, which can encourage friendship and dialogue with PvP and conflict in interesting and subversive ways.
We’re growing the world we want to play in every day, a world designed to offer new experiences every time you play, growing and evolving for years to come.
Thanks to our amazing new partners and this latest round of funding, we can continue crafting the best game possible while growing and supporting our incredible team.”
Source – [Gardens Press Release]