Ex-Crytek staff launch new gaming fund and accelerator for gaming startups

A new gaming fund and accelerator has been launched by ex-Crytek staff. GameGroove Capital plans to invest $6 million a year in early-stage gaming startups.

While based in the US, the fund will target the CIS region, with an office in Kiev, Ukraine. The fund has been started by Alexander Zoll, former CEO of Crytek’s Kiev studio.

Zoll had previously left Crytek to form Blackwood Games in February 2019 with the plan being for the developer to guide GameGroove’s partners throughout development of their products. These products will include technologies for the games industry as well as full titles.

Blackwood Games was formed by key members of the team that created Warface, with experience working on IPs such as Farcry and Crysis. After its formation, its team announced that Warface would continue to be supported throughout 2019 while also moving forward with other plans and ideas.

GameGroove Capital held an invite-only conference earlier this week for leaders in game development, as part of its launch of the fund. Guests included investors from Amazon Game Studios, Google for Startups, as well as speakers from Bioware, Lucid Games, and Nordic Game Ventures.

The GameGroove Capital $6 million fund will be split between 20 different projects with individual investments of $300,000 each, with each partner being part of an ‘acceleration program’ within the collaboration with GameGroove and Blackwood Games.

Story by Jennifer Allen