Star Wars Director JJ Abrams' Gaming Studio Raises $40 Million, Working On AAA New IP

The video game division of Star Wars director J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath's Bad Robot movie production company, Bad Robot Games, has raised $40 million to fuel its growth.

The company just closed a round of Series B funding, with venture capital company Galaxy Interactive leading the latest wave of investment. Previous investors Tencent, Horizons Ventures, and Iconiq Capital also participated in the latest round of funding.

Bad Robot Games has now raised more than $50 million in total. The division was founded in 2018 with the help of Tencent and Warner Bros. Games.

Anna Sweet, the former Valve executive who now heads up Bad Robot Games, said in a statement that Galaxy, Horizons, and Iconiq Capital make up a "VC dream team."

"We are grateful to have their continued support as we look to change the way people interact with and view video games," Sweet said.

According to Variety, Bad Robot Games is using the $40 million to expand its efforts for internal game development and its co-development projects. As announced previously, Bad Robot Games' internal studio is led by general manager Mike Booth, who is credited with creating the Left 4 Dead franchise.

Sweet said Bad Robot Games is working to "create games that cross platforms, cross mediums and are based on IP originating from both games and linear content." The studio plans to make games for PC, console, and mobile that include "large and indie-scale original games."

The first internal game from Bad Robot Games will be a new AAA IP, but no other details are available about it yet. It will, however, be created in partnership with Bad Robot's movie, TV, and animation studios.

In addition Sweet and Booth, Bad Robot Games recently hired World of Warcraft veteran Joe Rumsey to be its technical director and Oneil Howell (Just Case) as its senior level designer. Bad Robot Games has a number of open positions across disciplines on its careers page.