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Hiro Capital – in collaboration with Tencent – is investing $10 million into a new project from the studio behind Portal Knights, Keen Games. The upcoming title will be a "spiritual successor" to the popular game from 2016, which managed to sell more than 3.5 million copies.
While the full project is yet to be revealed, a bit of early info was released with the funding announcement. Keen Games will reportedly have full creative and publishing control of the project, which is set to be an open-world multiplayer game featuring cross-play on console and PC. The unnamed project is slated for a 2023 launch.
At the helm of the project is Jan Joeckel – although they're surrounded by industry veterans with more than 30 year's experience.
“We are incredibly excited to start a brand new chapter for Keen Games with the development of our next title and transition to a self-publishing studio,” Jan Joeckel, CEO of Keen Games, said. “We found in Hiro and Tencent two very strong partners that are aligned with our vision of taking the studio to the next level.”
As for Tencent and Hiro Capital, they believe a successor to Portal Knights should be just as popular as the original.
“We are delighted to be investing in such a stellar team," Cherry Freeman, co-founding partner at Hiro Capital, said. "From the first moments playing their game prototype we knew that they were on track to bottle lightning again and build upon the success of Portal Knights." Hiro Capital is footing most of the $10 million bill, with Tencent acting as a secondary investor.
An early image from the project shows off a game that looks nothing like Portal Knights. With a whole new art style, the only similarity between the two seems to be a hotbar at the bottom of the screen. As a spiritual successor and not a direct sequel, expect to see plenty of improvements and changes compared to the original – although the spirit of adventure and crafting will likely remain the heart of the experience.