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EDINBURGH, United Kingdom, Dec. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — International game developer and publisher Build A Rocket Boy, led by iconic game director Leslie Benzies, has announced the acquisition of PlayFusion, a multi-award winning, independent, UK-based Kingdom-based game developer and publisher.

The combination of these two groundbreaking independent studios will accelerate growth as Build A Rocket Boy continues to develop three core products:

• AAA story-driven action thriller game MindsEye;
• The next-generation immersive gaming and entertainment open-world platform, ANYWHERE; And

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• A set of remarkably easy-to-use AAA UGC design and publishing tools from ARCADIA.

Mark Gerhard, CEO and CTO of PlayFusion, will join Build A Rocket Boy as co-CEO alongside Benzies who founded Build A Rocket Boy in 2016.

A mainstay in the gaming industry, Gerhard will focus on Build A Rocket Boy’s upcoming pipeline of AAA games and UGC tools and drive business growth, with broader ambitions to expand the platform into multiple entertainment spaces. Together with the founding team, Gerhard founded PlayFusion in 2015 and was previously CEO and CTO of Jagex, best known for RuneScape, which holds multiple Guinness World Records for the largest massively multiplayer online role-playing game with over 250 million player accounts.

Benzies is known for his genre-defining contributions to video game creation. His decades of experience developing, producing, directing and designing video games have made him a pioneer in the industry. He will continue to serve as CEO and Game Director of Build A Rocket Boy, maintaining his vision of creating immersive and immersive entertainment content and a new era of gaming.

“We have always admired PlayFusion’s creativity and innovative approach to transmedia entertainment, and joining forces with them will take Build A Rocket Boy to our next level of excellence. Our vision has always been to put creativity in the hands of the players and the shared interests of PlayFusion. passion for gaming will help us create a robust offering for our community to seamlessly build their own AAA quality games and soon create compelling original online experiences,” says Leslie Benzies, CEO and founder of Build A Rocket Boy.

“It is truly an honor and privilege to join forces with Leslie and the legendary team at Build A Rocket Boy at such a formative time for the video games industry. We have a huge drive to delight our players and we share an exciting vision for the future. This next chapter of our combined studios will deliver on that promise and disrupt the industry by democratizing premium game development. PlayFusion’s core team has been working together for almost two decades and we’re excited to be at the forefront of ushering it in. A new era of gaming.” said Mark Gerhard, CEO and CTO of PlayFusion.

Build A Rocket Boy announced in January 2024 that it had closed a Series D fundraising round of more than $110 million, led by RedBird Capital Partners and existing and new investors including Alignment Growth, Endeavor, Galaxy Interactive, GTAM Partners, NetEase Games , Woodline Partners , and others.

“We are thrilled to have Mark Gerhard and the PlayFusion team join Build A Rocket Boy, strengthening the already talented team and expanding our capabilities as a next-generation media and entertainment company. The PlayFusion team has a long track record and history in gaming, engineering and creative expertise that fits perfectly with Leslie’s innovative entertainment ethos. We are excited that the Build A Rocket Boy team continues to push the boundaries of immersive entertainment.” says Julia Wittlin, partner at RedBird Capital.

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ABOUT BUILD A ROCKET BOY

Founded in 2016 by games director Leslie Benzies, Build A Rocket Boy is an independent video game developer and entertainment company headquartered in Edinburgh, with studios in Budapest and Montpellier. The Build A Rocket Boy team consists of hundreds of the industry’s brightest development talents with a shared vision of creating new and innovative entertainment experiences.

ABOUT MINDSEYE

MindsEye is a story-driven action-adventure thriller, set in a fictional near-future Americana. This highly anticipated console and PC game, featuring the best cinematics, high octane content and explosive combat, is published and distributed by IO Interactive.

ABOUT ARCADIA

Anyone with an idea can create great games and immersive experiences using ARCADIA, our proprietary no-code, powerful user-generated content building tools, self-publishing system, and library of assets that will revolutionize the video game experience.

ABOUT EVERYWHERE

EVERYWHERE is an entertainment platform where players and builders can unleash their creativity to build, remix and play with others in a vast connected world. Currently in Builders beta testing with a specific focus on building the most initiative-rich and powerful UGC toolset in the world.

© 2024 Build a Rocket Boy Limited. MindsEye^® and EVERYWHERE^® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Build A Rocket Boy Games Ltd. in the US, UK, European Union and other countries and territories. All rights reserved.

ABOUT PLAYFUSION

PlayFusion is an independent studio pioneering the development of next-generation video games and entertainment. Founded in 2015, by a team of passionate game developers with decades of experience working across multiple award-winning studios on a wide range of titles across PC, console and mobile. PlayFusion is based in Cambridge, England, and is currently in closed beta for the highly anticipated release of ASCENDANT.com in 2025.

For more information, visit https://www.ascendant.com/.