On a mission to break down the boundaries of gaming, Return Entertainment has just scored €5.3 million. The funding for the Finland-based startup was led by BITKRAFT Ventures with Sisu Game Ventures, Vgames, 1Up Fund, and SMOK Ventures participating.
Founded in 2019 by seven industry veterans including CEO Antti Sartanen, CTO Tuomas Paavola Co-Founder of Immersal (acquired by Hexagon) and Lead Designer Toni Hollming, Co-Founder of Helsinki GameWorks (acquired by Next Games), the startup is transforming the gaming industry. Return Entertainment is working on two initial games that are designed from the ground up to take advantage of the cloud, which means gameplay will be fully cross-playable between browsers on mobile, tablet or PC.
The company’s mission is to remove the barrier to entry that comes with needing expensive gear by offering cloud-native games. Their upcoming games enable one-click access along with impressive visuals and simulations powered by cloud computing to enable seamless switching from playing and watching.
Antti Sartanen, CEO of Return Entertainment, explained: “Cloud-native gaming is basically gaming on steroids; you have the same devices that gamers already play on, but suddenly the experiences are more accessible, shareable and rich in visuals and simulations. With the right combination of technology and game design we can come up with incredible new types of games that were not previously possible, including games with more detailed worlds and physics, meaningful games that can be joined in an instant, and games that offer real-time interaction between players, streamers and viewers.”
The fresh funding will enable Return Entertainment to develop console-quality games that are playable across devices and easier to join than a video call. Through designing games, mechanics, and tools to be cloud-native from scratch and leveraging new types of gameplay and technology the young startup is leading the gaming industry towards the cloud.
