Raph Koster's new MMO studio Playable Worlds raises $2.7 million

Playable Worlds, the game dev studio founded in part by Star Wars Galaxies creative director Raph Koster, has raised $2.7 million to bring its first title, an unannounced massively multiplayer online game, to life.

Playable Worlds itself was officially set up in 2018 by Koster and longtime industry strategic advisor Eric Goldberg, who now serves as Playable Worlds’ head of business, strategy, and corporate development. The studio has since added developers with experience creating and launching online games for Disney, Marvel, Sony Online Entertainment, and more to its roster.

That $2.7 million in seed funding comes from the likes of Bitkraft Esports Ventures along with Ventures and a handful of angel investors. The funds are set to help expand the team and accelerate the development of Playable Worlds’ first title, a multifaceted massively multiplayer online game.

According to a press release, that unnamed game aims to appeal to a broad range of players by providing a world that supports a range of different playstyles. Ideally, as outlined in a press release, the game would allow different communities of players to emerge based on how they choose to play, groups that would then co-exist and benefit one another in a single online world that leverages modern cloud architecture, simulation, and AI.

“I’m incredibly excited to bring a new world to players,” said Koster, CEO of the new studio, in a press release. “Technology has caught up to the visions we always had of alternate worlds where entire societies can form. It’s time for that dream to be fulfilled.”