Wavedash Games, an Oakland-based game publisher, announced today that it has raised $6 million in Series A funding, led by March Capital Partners. Wavedash will leverage the financing to grow its team and complete the development of its new Platform Fighter game. Additional funding was provided by Lowercase Capital, Advancit Capital, CourtsideVC, Machine Shop Ventures, Luma Labs, and Cherrytree VC.
Founded by seasoned game developers from EA, Riot Games, and Blizzard, the Wavedash team boasts some of North Americas earliest esports industry pioneers, as well as community leaders from other Platform Fighters such as Nintendos Super Smash Bros. series. Drawing from his experience in music, film, apparel, and gaming, Linkin Park DJ and Programmer Joe Hahn also joins as an advisor to offer insight into creative development, marketing, and community building.
Platform Fighters are fighting games where victory is achieved by knocking the opponent off of the stage rather than by depleting health bars. Popularized by Super Smash Bros., the genre has skyrocketed as a competitive esport, where players all over the world compete for prizes sometimes in front of hundreds of thousands of fans online.
The Platform Fighter community is one of the most vibrant in gaming, said Matt Fairchild, Wavedashs CEO and co-founder. ?But it has yet to reach its full potential. Were following the trail blazed by Riot Games and Valve by bringing community passion together with world class developer talent.
By building on the genres spectator-friendly and accessible game design, Wavedash aims to place Platform Fighters alongside MOBAs (League of Legends) and FPS games (CS:GO) as a premier, global esport genre. Their as-yet-untitled game will be free to play, inspired by the models popularized by League of Legends and Dota 2, which offer the game itself for free while selling customization options. The business model reportedly earned League of Legends more than $1.8 billion in 2016 alone.
?Despite massive growth in esports as a whole in recent years, the market has yet to really effectively tackle Platform Fighters, said Gregory Milken, partner and co-founder, March Capital Partners. ?The passion of Jason, Matt, and their team really shines through, and we look forward to working with them on the development of Wavedash.
The game will launch on PC with extensive controller support and online play, rapidly releasing new characters and stages over the first year. Wavedash plans to reveal gameplay for the first time this summer; fans can learn more by visiting Wavedashs website, and by following development on their active Twitter account.
About Wavedash Games
Wavedash Games is an independent game publisher based in Oakland, California. Founded in 2015 by industry veterans (EA, TinyCo, Riot Games) and esports enthusiasts, Wavedash is focused on building products for the modern era of spectator-friendly gaming. Competitive and cooperative multiplayer experiences, watchability, and production value for video streaming are key development principles the studio infuses into their games. For more information, see http://www.wavedash.com.
About March Capital Partners
March Capital Partners is a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm with one of the largest global funds in Southern California. Founded by industry veterans with over 50 years of investing experience, March Capital is unique in the Southern California market with its active investments in both early and late-stage companies in mobile, enterprise, infrastructure, gaming and other growth industries. The majority of March Capitals investments are with Southern California companies, with targeted positions in innovative global organizations. For more information, see http://www.marchcp.com/.