Black/Women-Led Gaming Studio Closes Oversubscribed $1.1M Pre-Seed Round
Wicked Saints to pioneer “a truly unique” narrative AR experience for a generation that cares about their mental health and the state of the world.
March 4, 2022 – First to emerge from Niantic’s (makers of Pokémon GO) BDI incubator, Wicked Saints Studios closed an oversubscribed pre-seed round, raising $1.1 million to begin testing the world’s first adventure activism game. With an all-female, majority-Black C-suite, Wicked Saints joins an exclusive group of startups helmed by one of under 100 Black women founders who have ever raised $1 million or more.
An A-list team of investors and advisors are backing Wicked Saints. Leading the round is Precursor Ventures, followed by Riot Games and Authentic Ventures, along with angels Reid Hoffman (Co-Founder, LinkedIn), Andy Chmyz (former CFO, Roblox), Holly Liu (Co-Founder, Kabam), Katie Jansen (CMO, AppLovin), and Mark Eckhardt (CEO, COMMON). Chmyz and Jansen are also advisors, along with Paul Joffe, VP of Games at Sony Pictures Entertainment; Celia Hodent, former UX Director at Epic Games (Fortnite) and best-selling author; Nancy Lublin, social entrepreneur and former CEO of DoSomething.org; and Van Jones, CNN host, best-selling author, and attorney.
“I’m excited to work with Jess and her incredibly talented team,” says Charles Hudson, managing partner at Precursor Ventures. “They're pioneering a new category of interactive storytelling and gameplay that combines the best of AR and storytelling to deliver a truly unique experience to their players.”
Wicked Saints emerged from Niantic’s incubator last fall (CNBC article) having created a prototype of the world’s first adventure activism game, World Reborn. At its simplest, World Reborn is an interactive story game with real-life quests facilitated by augmented reality (AR). It not only defies genres between narrative and AR games but blends the digital and real world. Wicked Saints sees AR as a bridge between fantasy and reality, with untapped potential to offer players immersive experiences that change them and their world for good. The pre-seed funds will build a proof-of-concept for soft launch.
“We are merging digital art, storytelling, and technology in the real world, in ways that haven’t been seen before, a new frontier on the way to the metaverse,” shares CEO and Co-Founder Jessica Murrey. “Players will see their impact in real-time, as they learn how to attack the problem, not the person, and overcome humanity’s greatest challenges–together.”
A star-studded team is building World Reborn. Murrey, an Emmy-Award-winning storyteller and social campaign strategist, is an international peacebuilder turned game designer. With COO/Co-Founder Alicia Clifton, a behavioral science innovator and published social psychology researcher, Murrey spent years working with young people all over the world for the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated organization, Search for Common Ground. To create Wicked Saints Studios (WS), they teamed up with Daphne Larose, a Forbes top 50 women in tech and former technical lead manager at Niantic, who is pioneering a path of her own as a Black and Queer woman CTO. The remote studio has attracted top talent across the globe. The World Reborn team includes engineers, designers, writers, and artists who previously worked on Pokémon GO, Spider-verse, Disney TV shows, AAA mobile games like Marvel Future Revolution, and various Netflix projects.
Wicked Saints is expanding this team quickly. Open positions include a systems designer, art producer, a technical artist who has worked in Unity, and a VFX/technical artist who specializes in AR/Mixed Reality (XR). Application information can be found on their website.
The world needs a game like World Reborn right now. It’s designed to make youth feel good. At a time of rampant social division and mental illness, World Reborn will empower young people with the tools to help themselves and the world. The goal is to captivate Gen Z with amazing experiences full of dope art, swoon-worthy characters, and jaw-dropping plot twists. Meanwhile, these experiences help them fulfill their personal dreams while working together to build a better world. World Reborn harnesses the power of storytelling, gameplay, and technology to champion an entire generation.
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